The 71st National Film Awards were announced on Friday, with Kandeelu, a Kannada-language film directed and produced by Yashodha Prakash Kottukattira, taking home the prize for Best Kannada Feature Film. Hailing from Madikeri in Karnataka’s Kodagu district, Yashodha is notably the only female filmmaker from the region. With Kandeelu, she brings a quiet, grounded drama that follows the life of a farmer and his family in a rural village. Inspired by real events, the film explores the struggles of agrarian life and the emotional cost of survival, told with an understated realism.

Though Yashodha has directed and produced several projects before, Kandeelu marks a career milestone, earning national recognition. In the non-feature film category, Mysuru-based filmmaker Chidananda Naik was recognised for his short film Sunflowers Were the First Ones to Know, which won Best Script. The film had earlier made headlines internationally after it won the La Cinef Award at the Cannes Film Festival.