Mammootty shines bright

The biggest feature of this year's Kerala State Film Awards is the relative absence of controversy. At the same time, the jury was not ready to compromise on eligibility. 'Nanpakal Nerathu Mayakkam' is one of the best movies ever released in Malayalam, not just last year. Mammootty played two characters in that movie. There is no noticeable difference in the behaviour of the two characters. The only difference between them is that they are human beings living in two places with different languages, ways of life and cultures. Both are common men. This is a film that effortlessly brought out Mammootty's most refined acting skills in all its nuanced beauty. It would have been an irreparable mistake if the award committee had decided not to consider Mammootty this time just because he is a five-time state award winner. If the winner of the 100m race last time in the Olympics comes first again, the gold medal cannot be given to the person who came second. Merit must be the only factor that must be considered in determining the award. Only those with inferior levels of thinking can deny a person the award by pointing out that the person has won several awards in the past. On the other hand, the performance of Kunchacko Boban in the film 'Nna Than Case Kodu', which gave tough competition to Mammootty till the last round, was also good. However, Mammootty got a more challenging character than Kunchacko Boban. How an actor portrays challenging characters is the biggest factor that must be considered in assessing an actor's talent. Mammootty is an actor who has played several good as well as poor characters for nearly forty years. The actor's excellence lies in the fact that he was able to portray James/Sundaram without any shades of the other character he played over the years.

Mahesh Narayanan, who made the film 'Ariyippu', was adjudged the best director. Vincy Aloysius won Best Actress without much opposition. This is the first state award for Vincy. The special jury awards for Kunchacko Boban and Alencier Appan are also commendable. Devi Verma, who won the award for her performance in 'Saudi Vellakka', and Magistrate PP Kunjikrishnan, who won for his performance in 'Nna Than Case Kodu', deserve special applause for showing that age is not a hindrance to acting. We'd like to congratulate M. Jayachandran, Rafeeq Ahmed, Ratheesh Balakrishnan Poduval, Manesh Madhavan, Mridula Warrier, Kapil Kapilan, and other winners.