Malayalam actor Chandu Salimkumar voiced his opinion after the National Film Awards were announced on Saturday evening. Even as he congratulated those from Malayalam cinema who won awards, he pointed out that many good films were ignored by the jury. This comes after the 2024 Malayalam hit Manjummel Boys did not bag any awards, nor did many other celebrated films from that year. (Also Read: 72nd National Film Awards full list of winners: Kartik Aaryan, Yami Gautam, Mammootty win big; as does Article 370)
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While Chandu did not mention Manjummel Boys in the note he posted on Instagram, many deduced it was what he was referring to. “Imagine a kid in 2050 studying the history of Indian cinema. They’ll go through the list of National Award winners and watch every film that was celebrated. They won’t know who was in power or what the political climate was. They’ll judge only what they see on screen,” he wrote in his note.
“If they find that many ordinary films were honoured while better films were ignored, they’ll naturally ask why. And if the answer people keep giving is that awards were influenced by proximity to the ruling party rather than talent, then that’s what history will remember. The trophy may last forever, but so will the questions about how it was earned,” further wrote the actor.
He ended his note with, “Awards are supposed to outlive governments. They should stand as proof of artistic excellence, not political convenience. If people lose faith in that, history won’t remember these as the finest films of their time-it will remember them as the films that won when power mattered more than merit.”
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Mammootty won his fourth National Award this year as Best Actor for his performance in Bramayugam. He shares it with Kartik Aaryan, who won it for Chandu Champion. Feminichi Fathima won the Best Malayalam Film award. Shehnad Jalal won the Best Cinematography award for Bramayugam, and Vaikom Vijayalakshmi won the Best Female Playback Singer award for Angu Vaana Konilu from ARM.
Chandu celebrated these wins on his Instagram Stories. Particularly posting a still of Mammootty from Bramayugam, he wrote, “Imagine the aura of winning a National Award when it’s being handed out to the ruling party’s friends and family, yet they still can’t ignore you-because yours was simply the best performance in the country.”
Manjummel Boys is a survival film based on real-life incidents, written and directed by Chidambaram. It is produced by Soubin Shahir, Babu Shahir and Shawn Antony under Parava Films. It stars Soubin Shahir, Sreenath Bhasi, Deepak Parambol, Balu Varghese, Ganapathi S Poduval, Lal Jr, Abhiram Radhakrishnan, Arun Kurian, Khalid Rahman and Shebin Benson. It is one of the highest-grossing Malayalam films and the year’s highest-grossing film in the language, with worldwide earnings of ₹241 crore.
Chandu was last seen in Lokah Chapter 1: Chandra, Rachel and Mollywood Times.
