Non-Bollywood films dominated the National Film Awards for 2020 on Friday with Tamil film ‘Soorarai Pottru’ which tells the life story of aviation icon Captain Gopinath voted best film, its lead artists Suriya and Aparna Balamurali were chosen as Best Actor and Best Actress.
While Tamil and Malayalam films scooped all the main awards, the only consolation for Bollywood, the country’s biggest film market, came when Ajay Devgn was picked as best actor along with Suriya. ‘Tanhaji: the unsung warrior’ was named Best Popular Film Providing Wholesome Entertainment.
From Kannada, Dollu by Sagar Puranik was voted Best Kannada Film while it also won another award for Outdoor Sound Recorder for Jobin Jayan. The Kannada film Taledanda (Decapitation of a Life) directed by Praveen Krupakar was voted best environmental conservation film.
In the non-feature category, Girish Kasaravalli directed ‘Naadada Navaneeta‘ Dr. PT Venkateshkumar was selected as the best arts and culture film.
The Best Director award went to KR Sachidanandan, known as Sachi in Malayalam film circles, for his film ‘Ayyappanum Koshiyum‘. He died aged 49 in June 2020 shortly after the film was released in theaters.
Biju Menon, who played one of Ayappan’s title roles in Sachi’s film, won Best Supporting Actor while Lakshmi Priya Chandramouli was chosen Best Supporting Actress for her role. in Tamil film. Sivaranjiniyum Innum Sila Pengalum. Rajasekhar, Mafia Sasi and Supreme Sunder also won Best Action Direction (Stunt Choreography) for Ayyappanum Koshiyum.
Best Screenplay was shared by Shalini Usha Nair and Sudha Kongara for ‘Soorarai Pottru‘ while Madonna Ashwin won it for dialogue. Ashwin’s Mandela also won the Indira Gandhi Award for Best Debut Film by a Director.
Funeral, a Marathi film directed by Vivek Dubey, was voted best film on social issues, while another Marathi film, Sumi, directed by Amol Vasant Gole, won the award for best children’s film.
Folk singer Nanchamma, who sang for the first time in a film at Ayyappanum Koshiyum, was voted best playback singer while Rahul Deshpande received the award for best playback mae singer for his songs in a Marathi film. Mi Vasantrao. Supratim Bhol was chosen for the Best Cinematography award for his work in Bengali cinema Avijatrik.
The Best Editing award went to veteran editor Sreekar Prasad for the Tamil film Sivaranjiniyum Innum Sila Pengalum while the award for Best Production Design went to the Malayalam film’Kapella‘.
