Urvashi, Vijayaraghavan bring laurels to Malayalam
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Kochi: The National Film Awards for the year 2023, declared on Friday evening, brought cheers to the Malayalam film industry. Senior actors Urvashi and Vijayaraghavan won the awards for the best supporting actors for their performances in the movies 'Ullozhukku' and 'Pookkalam' respectively.
Ullozhukku, directed by Christo Tomy, also won the award for the best Malayalam movie.
Urvashi shared the best supporting award with Gujarati actor Janaki Bodiwala (Vash) and Vijayaraghavan shared the award with Tamil actor M S Bhaskar (Parking). It is the first time that Vijayaraghavan is winning a National Film Award while it has been the second national honour for Urvashi as the best supporting actor.
Mohandas won the award for the best production designer for the movie '2018: Everyone is a Hero'.
Midhun Murali won the award for best editor for 'Pookkalam'. M R Rajakrishnan won the special mention of the jury for the re-recording of the Hindi movie 'Animal'.
Sudipto Sen, the director of the movie 'The Kerala Story', which triggered controversy in Kerala, won the award for the best director. Under the non-feature film category, the Malayalam documentary 'Nekel-Chronicle of the Paddy man', directed by M K Ramdas, won the special jury mention.
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CM slams award for 'Kerala Story'
Chief minister Pinarayi Vijayan congratulated Malayali artists who won honours in the National Film Awards. The awards to Urvasi and Vijayaraghavan enriched Malayalam cinema, he said. However, he criticised the jury for choosing the controversial film 'The Kerala Story' for awards and said the awards were an insult to Kerala.
Without mentioning the name of the movie, Vijayan said, "The jury has disrespected the esteemed tradition of Indian cinema, which stands for religious harmony and national upliftment, by choosing for awards a film built on lies, aimed at defaming Kerala and spreading communalism.
This is part of the Sangh Parivar agenda to use cinema as a weapon to implement their divisive agenda. We strongly protest this action.
Every Malayali and believer in democracy across the country should raise their voice against this injustice. We must unite against the politics that turn art into a tool for promoting communalism."
Award for 'Kerala Story' unacceptable: Oppn leader
Opposition leader V D Satheesan said the awards to the film The Kerala Story was unacceptable. He said the film's sole intention was to spread religious hatred. "BJP and Sangh Parivar, who are implementing divisive politics, are trying to gain political advantage by spreading false information about Kerala. This will not succeed," he said.
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