The other day, the cast and crew of Palli Chattambi celebrated Vijayaraghavan’s National Award win for Best Supporting Actor for his performance in Pookkaalam. The film’s makers shared a video where its lead actor Tovino Thomas and director Dijo Jose Antony, among others, celebrated the achievement with Vijayaraghavan. Also seen in the video are actors Sudheer Karamana and Shaju Sreedhar. “National Honour for our Kuttettan,” read a part of the caption for the post, which went on to describe the actor as “the pride of Malayalam cinema.” It added, “As a team, we at Palli Chattambi are overjoyed to witness this legendary actor being celebrated at the highest level.” Palli Chattambi star Kayadu Lohar also shared the video on her Instagram Stories.
His performance in Pookkaalam also earned Vijayaraghavan his first win at the Kerala State Film Awards. He shared the national award with MS Bhaskar, who won for his stupendous performance in Parking. In an exclusive reaction to the win with CE, Vijayaraghavan said that the audience's appreciation is the biggest recognition for an actor because viewers watch the film without any “preconceived notion,” unlike jury members.
Directed by Ganesh Raj, Pookkaalam stars Vijayaraghavan as Ittoop, a man who is 100 years old. On the day of his granddaughter's betrothal, he finds an old love letter addressed to his wife, which makes him consider a divorce. The actor reportedly lost about 10 kilograms to prepare for the role, and he applied makeup for about five hours a day in order to play it. Midhun Murali also won Best Editing for his work in Pookkaalam. At the time of the announcement, Pookkaalam director Ganesh Raj said he "could not be happier" with the news and is "extremely proud of our Kuttettan and my dear friend Midhun Murali."
