Director SS Rajamouli's film 'Baahubali - the Beginning' won Best Film and this is seen as a huge boost for south Indian cinema.
The 63rd National Awards were announced on Monday morning and there is plenty of buzz on social media about the winners and those who didn't make the cut. Director S S Rajamouli's film Baahubali - the Beginning won Best Film and this is seen as a huge boost for south Indian cinema. When it came to Tamil cinema, five National Awards were given - three to director Vetrimaaran's Visarani co-produced by Dhanush, a Special mention Awards for Irudhi Suttru's Ritika Singh and Best Background Score to maestro Ilaiyaraaja for Thaarai Thappattai.
Unfortunately, Malayalam cinema did not see many winners this year. Actor Jayasurya won a Special Mention Award for his performances in Su.. Su... Sudhi Vathmeekam and Lukka Chuppi. Though he told media post the announcement that he was happy, the actor had lost out in the Kerala State Film Awards and now the National Awards as well. Music director M Jayachandran won the National Award for best music director award for the song Kathuirunnae Kathuirunnae from Ennu Ninte Moideen. Young Gaurav Menon won Best Child Artist for Ben. Nirnnayakam also won the Best Film on Social Issues.
Producer and founder of BOFTA, G Dhananjayan told dna, "Visaranai deserved the awards it won this year. But I think south cinema has had better years where National Awards are concerned. I think Malayalam cinema was ignored this year. There was great cinema last year in Malayalam. Personally, I think Pravathy deserved an award for her outstanding performance in Ennu Ninte Moideen." Producer S Sashikanth too felt that there were a lot of wonderful Malayalam films that came out in 2015 and wondered why they didn't make the cut.
But Dhananjayan was also quick to add that it was very competitive this year. "The jury is looking at all aspects of the film and I think the south Indian film industry just needs to make better films. "We are still not there at the level of the making of Bajirao Mastani or Piku. Piku is a gutsy film. Masaan again was a brilliant film. The biggest difference today is that small films are going mainstream like Piku or Tanu Weds Manu Returns. Unfortunately, our box office doesn’t support such films."
Editor of films like Kabali and Thozha Praveen KL couldn't be happier about the wins for Tamil cinema. "Visaranai is a wonderful film and it deserved those awards," he stated. "I was personally moved that late TE Kishore won the Best Editing Award. I think this is the best thing that could have happened and his parents are going to be really happy."
Praveen is also of the opinion that with Tamil film editors bagging National Awards it will open more doors for them. "I read that 25 percent of editors who have won the National Awards for Best Editing are form the Tamil film industry. This speaks as to how good we are and our calibre. In fact, I bagged the Tamil-Telugu bilingual Oopiri / Thozha by showing director Vamshi Padaipally my movie Madras. So definitely these awards will open more doors for editors from the Tamil film industry."
Rajamouli's Baahubali taking the Best Film Award has put the spotlight on south Indian cinema, feel many. Dhananjayan says, "Indian cinema is taking the world by storm. By choosing Baahubali as Best Film this year we have shown that we can match international standards of films like Troy or Gladiator. This is more of an encouragement. Given an opportunity, I am sure if Rajamouli were given a Rs 1000 crore budget, he would be able to compete with Hollywood easily."
Tollywood actor Prabhas who plays Shivudu and Mahendras Baahubali in Rajamouli's Baahubali stated that it was overwhleming that the film had been recognised as Best Film at the 63rd National Awards. In fact, Baahubali producer of the film Shobu Yarlagadda took to social media to express his happiness at the win. The movie also won the National Award for Best Special Effects.
“One thing that would really help is if we knew who made it to the top five in each category at the National Awards. Some movies could have just missed out by a whisker,” says producer Sashikanth, adding that this will help the audience as well as filmmakers.
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