After grabbing the Kerala State Film Award for Best Actor, we hear Malayalam actor Vinayakan is being considered for the National Award as well.
According to a report, the regional jury from Malayalam has submitted a list of contenders with Vinayakan on top to the National Film Awards jury. We will have to wait and see if the actor's portrayal of Ganga in Kammatipaadam will fetch him India's best actor title.
But one thing is certain – Vinayakan will be in for a tough competition. Some of the probable contenders for the best actor role are Nawazuddin Siddiqui (Haraamkhor, Raman Raghav - Hindi), Guru Somasundaram (Joker), S.J. Surya (Iraivi) Vijay Sethupathi (Aandavan Kattalai, Iraivi) and Amitabh Bachchan (Pink).
Sources suggest that there are a total of 16 movies from Tamil and Malayalam, and the national jury - headed by director Priyadarshan - has started watching the short-listed movies. Out of them, 10 are Malayalam films, the report added.
Maheshinte Prathikaram, Ottayaal Patha, Guppy, Kammatipaadam, Kaadu Pookkunna Neram, Pinneyum, Minnaminungu and Kambhoji are among the films submitted for the national jury's consideration, the report said.
Director R.S. Vimal was part of the regional jury that picked movies from Malayalam and Tamil. Director Shyamaprasad was part of the jury that shortlisted Bengali films. The screening of films for the regional juries was held from February till March first week.
Suraj Venjaramoodu was the last Malayalam actor to win the National Award for Best Actor – in 2014, for his performance in the Malayalam film Perariyathavar. Before that, Salim Kumar won the honor in 2011 for his role in Adaminte Makan Abu. Actor Jayasurya won a special jury award last year for his performances in Su.. Su... Sudhi Vathmeekam and Lukka Chuppi.