The 68th National Film Awards were handed out on Friday, July 22, and Sudha Kongara’s Tamil directorial Soorarai Pottru won big, taking home the Best Feature Film title. Soorarai Pottru, which released on November 2020, has won a total of four awards including Best Screenplay and Best Music Director award. The main lead of the film, actor Suriya, has won the award for Best Actor, sharing it with Bollywood actor Ajay Devgn, who won best actor for Tanhaji: The Unsung Warrior. Aparna Balamurali also won the award for the Best Actress for her role in Soorarai Pottru. GV Prakash Kumar was the Music Director (Background Score) for Soorarai Pottru. The film was produced by actor Suriya under his home banner 2D entertainment and is loosely based on the life of Deccan Airlines founder GR Gopinath. Presently, Soorarai Pottru is being remade in Hindi with actor Akshay Kumar in the lead. Earlier this year, Suriya confirmed that he would make a cameo appearance in the Bollywood remake.
Meanwhile, other notable winners of the national awards include director Madonne Ashwin, who bagged two awards for his directorial debut Mandela, for best dialogues and best debut feature film. The political satire, featuring Yogi Babu in the lead role, was a commentary on caste and politics in Tamil Nadu. Vasanth S Rai directorial Sivaranjiniyum Innum Sila Pengalum won the award for the best feature film in Tamil. Sreekar Prasad, who was on board as the editor, has bagged the award for best editing, and actor Lakshmi Priya Chandramouli who played the role of Sivaranjani, won the award for best supporting actress. The anthology tracks the stories of three women who make sacrifices to battle patriarchy.
Malayalam film Ayyapannum Koshiyum has also won multiple awards, including for the best female playback singer, won by Nanjamma; best supporting actor male, won by Biju Menon; while the award for for the best stunt choreography went to Rajasekhar, Mafia Sasi and Supreme Sundar; and the award for the best direction went to late director and screenwriter KR Sachidanandan.
Colour Photo starring actors Suhas, Chandini Chowdary, and others has won the Best Film award for Telugu. Music Director S Thaman also won the award for the Best Music Direction for the Telugu film Ala Vaikunthapurramuloo.
Malayalam film Kappela bagged the award for best production design, while Vishnu Govind and Sree Sankar have won award under the category of best audiography for Mahesh Narayanan’s Malayalam film Malik, starring actors Fahadh Faasil and Nimisha Sajayan in the lead.
Telugu film Natyam has won awards — for Best Choreography, won by Sandhya Raju and and Best Makeup, won by TV Rambabu. Natyam is set against the backdrop of an ancient village that struggles with the disappearance of the true spirit of dance.
Director Senna Hegde’s comedy drama Thinkalazhchicha Nishchayam won the best feature film award in Malayalam, while Sagar Puranik directorial Dollu won the best feature film award in Kannada. Jobin Jayan has also won the award for Best Audiography (location sound recordist) for the Kannada movie Dollu. Thinkalazhchicha Nishchayam was selected for 25th IFFK under the ‘Malayalam Cinema Today’ category.
Kannada film Taledanda which was directed by filmmaker Praveen Krupakar won a national film award under the category of Best Film on Environment Conservation/Preservation.