The 71st National Film Awards announced on Friday in New Delhi. While the listing saw many new names, like Shah Rukh Khan, it was also criticised for honouring films that were controversial. Like each year, fans and online users pointed out the movies that snubbed by the jury. There are 2 honours for the arguable Real Kerala Story – under Best Direction and Best Cinematography. However, Kerala and Malayali fans are furious over the snubbing of actor Prithviraj Sukumaran and director Blessy’s ‘Aadujeevitham’.
Aadujeevitham: Real Kerala Story snubbed
While director Blessy’s ‘Aadujeevitham’ was released in 2024, it censored on December 31, 2023. It makes it eligible for contention for that year. The movie, based on the novel of the same name written by Benyamin, is a survival drama presenting Prithviraj Sukumaran as Najeeb, a Malayali immigrant worker who taken as a slave in Saudi Arabia.
Director Blessy travelled with ‘Aadujeevitham’ for over a decade. The real-life story was famous, way to the award-winning novel that earned the honour of Kerala Sahitya Akademi Award for Novel in 2009.
Why ‘Aadujeevitham’ deserved national awards
‘Aadujeevitham’ aka ‘The Goat Life’ launched in theatres on March 28, 2024. The movie made it to many guides’ year-end lists as one of the best films of the year. While some had problems with the film’s pacing, the movie was technically sound.
Soon after Real Kerala Story won two honours and ‘Aadujeevitham’ ended up with zero awards, it invited a number of backlash towards the jury members, who had only one Malayali for representation.
Kerala CM Pinarayi Vijayan was out of the jury without naming the film. He called it a movie that “spreads blatant incorrect information with the clear intent of tarnishing Kerala’s image and sowing seeds of communal hatred.”
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