Kerala's Culture Minister AK Balan announced the 50th Kerala State Film Awards on Tuesday and several stellar performers walked away with well-deserved trophies.
Many of the winning movies such as Vasanthi, Marakkar: Arabikadalinte Simham and Biryani haven’t had a theatrical release yet either due to censorship issues or due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Many others are streaming on Netflix, Amazon Prime Video and ZEE5.
Malayalam movie Vasanthi directed by Rahman Brothers won the big award for the best movie. Actress Swasika was honoured as the best actor in a character role for her portrayal in the film.
Best Actor was awarded to Surajvenjaramoodu Venjaramoodu for Android Kunjappan Version5.25. The movie is streaming on Amazon Prime Video.
An actor who has previously won awards as a comedian, Suraj Venjaramoodu has been hailed for many of his recent performances in Android Kunjappan as well as Vikruthi. Vikruthi is streaming on Netflix.
Best Actress was awarded to Kani Kustrithi for her performance in Biryani, directed by Sajin Babu. The movie tells the story of how a married Muslim woman breaks free off religious and social norms prevalent in the society.
The film has won awards in many film festivals and the heroine Kani Kusurthi won best second actress award at the Imagine Film Festival in Madrid, Spain for her performance in this film.
Best director went to Lijo Jose Pellissery, for the movie Jallikkattu which has been hailed by critics and audience alike and ran to packed houses in Singapore.
Jallikattu premiered on 6 September 2019 at the 2019 Toronto International Film Festival and received widespread critical acclaim as well as several awards at film festivals. The movie is streaming on Amazon Prime Video.
Fahadh Fazil won the award for best actor in character role for his performance in Kumbalangi Nights. The movie is a slice of life film about four brothers who share a love-hate relationship with each other. Kumbalangi Nights is streaming on Amazon Prime Video.
Sidharth Priyadarshan won a Special Jury Award, while actors Nivin Pauly and Anna Ben received special jury mention for their roles in the movies Moothon and Helen respectively.
Helen is streaming on Amazon Prime Video while Moothon is streaming on Zee5.
Debutant director Ratheesh Pothuval won the best debut director award for his film Thottappan, a moving film for which PS Rafeeq won the award as the best screenwriter.
Najim Arshad was adjudged best male playback singer and Madhushree Narayan was given best female playback singer award in the music section of the awards. Sushin Shyam won in the best music composition category for the movie Kumbalangi Nights.