Malayalam films continue to shine at 71st National Film Awards. Here's how

Malayalam films shone at this year's 71st National Film Awards, which was announced on Friday. Christo Tomy's film 'Ullozhukku' won big as it took home the award for Best Malayalam film. Urvashi who played Leelamma , mother to an ailing man played by Prashant Murali and daughter-in-law Anju essayed by Parvathy Thiruvothu, in 'Ullozhukku' shared the award for Best Supporting Actress with Gujarathi actress Janki Bodiwala. This is Urvashi's second win in the same category. She received her first national award for the 2005 hit film 'Achuvinte Ammu', starring Meera Jasmine in the lead. 

Christo Tomy, in an interview with Onmanorama, spoke about the effort Urvashi took to get into the skin of the character. Vijayaraghavan who has played several critically-acclaimed characters also went on to win the award for Best Supporting Actor, a first for the actor, for his performance in 'Pookkaalam'. Vijayaraghavan, who played a 90-year-old veteran in the movie, told the media that he was elated with the win, added that he felt satisfied doing such variant characters as an actor.

Meanwhile, Midhun Murali took home the award for best editor in the film 'Pookkaalam' with the jury praising the pacing of the film. Mohandas who worked in Jude Anthany Joseph's film '2018' won the Best Production Design for his work in the movie. 'Nekal- Chronicle of the Paddyman', a Malayalam movie directed by M K Ramadas, received a special mention in the non-feature film category.