Kani Kusruti has won the award for second Best Actress at the Imagine Film Festival in Madrid, Spain for her performance in the Malayalam film 'Biriyaani'.
The award was decided by a jury consisting of Afghan actor Leena Alam and Olga Khlasheva, an internationally renowned Kazakh producer.
The movie, written and directed by Sajin Baabu, portrays the life of Khadeeja and her mother, who have to leave their home and village due to unforeseen events in their lives and their subsequent journey. Kani Kusruti plays Khadeeja and her mother's role is played by Shailaja Jala.
Surjith Gopinath, Anil Nedumangad, Shyam Reji and Thonnakkal Jayachandran are the other main actors of the film. Produced under the banner of UAN Film House, the camera is done by Karthik Muthukumar, edited by Appu Bhattathiri, music done by Leo Tom and art by Nitish Chandra Acharya.
'Biriyaani' was premiered worldwide at the Asiatica Festival in Rome, Italy, where it won the NETPAC Award for Best Film.
Later, the movie went on to win the Jury Award at the Bangalore International Film Festival, the Padmarajan Award for Best Screenplay, and got selected to the 42nd Moscow Film Festival and to the competiton segment of the BRICS section of the festival along with various national and international level festivals.
