Urvasi and Vijayraghavan win National award for best supporting actor

Thiruvananthapuram, Aug 1 (IANS) Veteran actors Urvasi and Vijayraghavan on Friday walked away with the National film award for the best supporting actor. The awards was announced in Delhi.

But Urvasi minced no words when she said there is a lobby which decides these awards. "They could have given the best actress award also to two people. In the past also this has happened to me,” said Urvasi.

Incidentally both Urvasi and Vijayraghavan have shared these awards with two others. Urvasi won the best supporting actress award for her brilliant role in the film ‘Ullozhokku’ while veteran actor Vijayraghavan won the best actor award his ‘Pookalam’.

For Urvasi this is her second National award for the best supporting actress. Her first award was in 2005 when she won for her performance in the film ‘ Achuvinte Amma’. But for Vijayraghavan this is the first national award.

Reacting to it he said he was surprised to be named as the best supporting actor. “ Long back I used to wait for this day when the awards was announced as I hoped quite a few times but when I never made it , I no longer used to wait as I felt, I will not make it. Hence when the news came on Friday , I was pleasantly surprised,” said the hugely popular actor who began his nearly four decade acting career as a villain.

He further added “ I am deeply thankful to all those behind the film ‘Pookalam’ as if the producer was not there and I was not contacted for acting this role , I would have never won this award."

The film titled ‘2018’ which told the tale of the worst ever floods that hit Kerala in 2018 got an award for Mohandas for the category Production Design. Film editor- Mithun Murali won the best editor award for the film ‘Pookalam’. Director of the film ‘Pookalam’ Christo Tomy which also won the best Malayalam Feature Film said that the eight year efforts which went into the film have been rewarded. “ There were a few times we had to stop the shooting due to a few reasons. In between Covid also took a toll, but now with the film winning a few awards , we are all excited. The efforts of Urvasi and Paravathy was really commendable ,” said Tomy .

--IANS

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