At the 69th National Film Awards, the Malayalam industry put up a decent show with #Home taking the best Malayalam film award, followed by Aavasavyooham bagging the award under the category Best Film on Environment Conservation/Prevention. Nayattu won the Best Original Screenplay.
Speaking to CE, Shahi Kabir who penned the original screenplay for Nayattu, said, “I feel happy about the recognition. Yes, I'm aware that there are differing opinions about the film, and I accept all that. Once a film releases, it belongs to the audience and they are free to interpret and criticise it in whichever way they feel like. Right now, I'm just glad that the jury is pleased with our work.”
Nayattu is 2021 political survival thriller directed by Martin Prakkat and starred Joju George, Nimisha Sajayan and Kunchacko Boban.
Director Krishand, who helmed Aavasavyooham, reacted to the win, “Overwhelmed. The film is still a wonder and thank coincidence and universe for making this happen. The voice of Puthuvype is still unheard... hope it reaches the right ears.”
Rojin Thomas, director of #Home, also expressed his joy and said, “I'm particularly delighted with Indrans ettan's win. He truly deserved it after all these years of hardwork. I had been travelling with this script for almost 7 years.
#Home stars Indrans, Sreenath Bhasi, Naslen K. Gafoor, Deepa Thomas, Manju Pillai, among others. The film opened to positive response
Also expressing his gratefulness for the team, he said, “During this period, even when I got exhausted, my music director Rahul and cinematographer Neil kept pushing me as they had complete faith in the subject. We eventually managed to get it done during the pandemic with a 50-member crew. Though we were confident that it would be good film, we never knew it would get such a wide reach with even non-Malayalis lapping it up. We were fortunate that Prime Video picked it up, which opened doors to a global audience. Even two years after the release, I'm still flooded with messages appreciating the film. The National award win is a culmination of that. It was disappointing when we couldn't please the jury at the State level, but this win makes it sweeter. Most of our team members hail from a non-filmy background. So, we hope this honour will inspire many others to dream big and pursue it.”