The 71st National Film Awards were announced at a press conference held in New Delhi on Friday. Although not as fruitful as the previous years, the Malayalam film industry still made a mark by winning in categories like Best Supporting Actor, both male and female. Christo Tomy's debut feature, Ullozhukku, was adjudged the Best Malayalam Film, and Urvashi's performance in it won her the award for Best Supporting Actress. While Christo had won two National awards before in the non-feature category, this is Urvashi's second win in the same category after bagging it for Achuvinte Amma (2005).
Vijayaraghavan, a veteran of over 400 films, secured his maiden National award for his performance in Ganesh Raj's Pookkaalam. He played a 100-year-old in the film, which also helped him bag his first Kerala State award. Editor Midhun Murali also won a National award for his work in Pookkaalam.
Jude Anthany Joseph's 2018: Everyone is a Hero, India's official entry for Best International Feature Film at the 96th Academy Awards, also made its presence felt at the 71st National Film Awards. Mohandas' spectacular work in the ambitious disaster was rewarded with the award for Best Production Design. Besides this, Malayali sound designer MR Rajakrishnan also won the award for Best Rerecording Mixer for the Hindi film, Animal.
In the non-feature category, Nekal—Chronicle of the Paddy Man, directed by MK Ramdas, received a special mention.