The 71st National Film awards were announced on Friday, August 1 and ‘The Kerala Story’ may have won big. The film won the ‘Best Director’ award for Sudipto Sen and ‘Best Cinematography’ for Prasantanu Mohapatra. However, not everyone on the jury agreed with the decision.Filmmaker Pradeep Nair, a jury member for the Feature Film category, told Manorama that he strongly opposed the film being chosen. He called it “propaganda” and said it unfairly showed Kerala in a bad light. “As a Malayali on the panel, I raised serious objections. I questioned how a film that defames a state like Kerala and serves as propaganda could be considered for a national honour,” he said.Despite his strong views, Pradeep said the other jury members didn’t agree with him. He added, “I even conveyed my concerns directly to the jury chairperson. However, I was the only one who labelled it as propaganda. Others argued that, even if it was controversial, it addressed a relevant social issue.”Another film, ‘Ullozhukku’ by Christo Tomy, was also being considered for Best Director. But the jury chose The Kerala Story instead. Pradeep said some jury members called Ullozhukku “just a family drama,” while they felt ‘The Kerala Story’ dealt with a more urgent social topic.Still, ‘Ullozhukku’ didn’t go unrecognised. It won Best Malayalam Film and Best Supporting Actress for Urvashi.The Kerala Story, directed by Sudipto Sen and produced by Vipul Shah, stirred major controversy when it was released. The film tells the story of women from Kerala who are forced to convert to Islam and join ISIS. The makers said it was based on real events, claiming that 32,000 women from Kerala had been radicalised—though this number has been widely questioned. The film starred Adah Sharma, Yogita Bihani, Siddhi Idnani and Sonia Balani.
