In Trance: Chottanikkara Bhagawathy temple

65^th National Film Awards

National Film Awards have been announced.  Of all the film producing states,  Mollywood (a sobriquet for the Malayalam Film Industry) has bagged a number of awards this year.  The awards include Best Film on Social Issues to Aalorukkam produced by Jolly Lonappan and directed by V. C. Abhilash, Best Direction award to Jayaraj for the film Bhayanakam, the film also gets the award for best Cinematography (Cameraman: Nikhil S Praveen), Thondimuthalum Driksakshiyum is the best Malayalam Film this year.   The film has bagged the best supporting actor award to Fahad Fazil and also the best Screenplay (original) award to Sajeev Pazhoor. Best Playback singer award this year goes to legendary K. J. Yesudas for the song Poy Maranja Kalam in the Film Viswapoovarnam Mansoor.  Award for best production has been announced for Santosh Raman’s  ‘Take off’ for which actress Parvathy Menon has been given a Special Mention award by the Jury headed by veteran film director Shekhar Kapoor.

    Thondimuthalum Driksakshiyum

    Fahad Fazil

Actor director Fahad Fazil who is the son of legendary malayalam Film director Fazil started his film career as a teenager in his father’s film Kaiyethum Dorrathu. He later featured in Kerala Café an anthology to the earlier film after a gap of nine years as the first film failed at box office.  Fahad won public attention in the film Chappa Kurishu which was produced in the year 2011.  He won his first state award for his performance in the film.   Through his powerful screen presence Fahad received critical acclaim for his performances in 22 Female Kottayam and Diamond Necklace in the year 2012.  He won his first Filmfare award for his role in 22 Female Kottayam.  

The actor continued his winning streak with number of commercially successful films which included Annayum Rasoolum, Amen, North 24 kaatham, Oru Indian Pranayakatha.   His film Banaglore Days was a runaway success and one of the biggest commercial successes in the Malayalam film industry in recent years.

Fahad produced and starred in the film Aloshy, Iyobinde Pustakam and later his roles in the film Maheshinde Prathikaaram in the year 2016 and Take off catapulted him to a higher pedestal in the film industry.  His role Thondimuthalum and Drikshakshiyum in the year 2017 has caught attention of the National award jury and he has been selected for the best supporting actor in the said film. 

    Parvathy Menon

Parvathy Menon within a decade of her entry into Malayalam films has carved a niche for herself amongst the best new acting talents in the industry.  Parvathy made her debut in the film Out of syllabus.  Her performance in Notebook was noteworthy and she continued her acting career through the films poo (2008), City of God (2011), Maryan (2013), Bangalore days (2014), Uttama Villian (2015), Ennu Ninte Moideen (2015), Charlie (2015) and Take off (2017), a film that has made her win the IFFI best actor award (female) at the 48^th International Film Festival.  She has now been selected for the Jury Special Mention for her role in the Film Take Off for the 65^th National Film Awards for 2017.

List of some other films that have won the National Awards

Best feature Film - Village Rockstars produced and directed by Rima Das Language: Assamese

Debut Director: Pampally in the Jasari Film (From Lakshadweep) titled Sinjar

Best Popular Film: Baahubali - The conclusion Producer Prasad Devineni Director: SS Rajamouli

Nargis Dutt Award for best feature film for National Integration:  Dhappa in Marathi

Best Film on social issues: Aaalorukkam (Malayalam) produced by Jolly Lonappan

Best Film on Environment: Irada (Hindi) produced by IRADA

Best Children's Film: Mhorkya (Marathi)

Best Actor: Nagarkirtan (Bengali), Actor: Riddhi Sen

Best Accretress: Mom (Hindi), Late Sridevi

Best supporting Actor: Fahad Fazil (Thondimuthalum Driksakshiyum)

Best supporting Actress: Divya Dutta (Irada: Hindi)

Best Child artist: Bhanita Das for Village Rockstars

Best Male Play back singer: K. J. Yesudas for the song Poy Maranja Kalam

Best Female singer: Shashaa Tirupati  for the song Vaan

Best Cinematography: Bhayanakam Cameraman Nilkhil S Praveen

Best Screen play: Thondimuthalum Driksakshiyum Screen play: Sajeev Pazhoor

Best Screenplay writer (adapted): Bhayanakam Jayaraj

Best Dialogus: Hello Arsi (Odia)

Best Audiography: location sound: Village Rockstars (Mallika Das)

Best Sound designer: Sanal George (Walking with thel wind)

Best re recordist of the final mixed track : Justin A Jose (Walking with the wind)

Best Editing: Rima Das (Village Rockstars)

Best Production design:  Take off (Santosh Raman)

Best Costume designer: Gobinda Mandal for Nagarkirtan

Best Make up artist:  Ram Rajjak, Nagarkirtan

Best Music Direction and background music: A. R. Rahman for Kaatgru Veliydai

Best Lyrics: March 22 song: Muthuratna by J M Prahalad

Special Jury award:  for Nagarkirtan

Best Special Effects:  Baahubali - the conclusion ( R. C. Kamalakannan)

Best Choreography:  Ganesh Achrya for Toilet ek prem Katha

Best Action Direction:  Baahubali - 2 (King Solomon, Lee Whitaker and Kecha Khamphakdee)

Special Mention:  Pankaj Tripathi for Newton

Special Mention: Parvathy for Take off

Special Mention: Prakruti Mishra for Hello Arsi

Special Mention: Yashraj Karhade for Mhorkya

Best Bengali Film: Mayurakshi produced by Firdausul Hasan Director: Attanu Ghosh

Best Assamese Film: Ishu produced by Children's film society, India

Best Hindi Film: Newton produced by Manish Mundra

Best Kannada Film: Hebbettu Ramakka produced by Putta Raju SA

Best Malayalam Film: Thondimuthalum Driksakshiyum by Dileesh Pothan

Best Marathi Film: Kachcha Limbu by Prasad Oak

Best Odiya Film: Hello Arsi by Sambit Mohanty

Best Tamil Film: To Let by Chezhiyan

Best Telugu Film:  Ghazi by Sankalp

Best Gujarati Film: Dhh by Manish Sanini

jpkallikkal/2018