KOCHI: It is not the first instance wherein announcement of film awards triggering controversy.
This time, for a change, all the films selected by the national jury were those ignored by the State committee, while no film that received award at the state level repeated the feat at the national level.
Though the award for best music director was for the same film - at the state and national levels - it went to different persons. While the national jury picked M Jayachandran, it was Ramesh Narayanan who got the award at the state level.
‘Pathemari,’ which was shunned by the State jury was adjudged the best Malayalam film at the national level. Meanwhile, ‘Charlie,’ the darling of the State jury headed by Mohan, could not achieve anything in the national level.
“There is nothing wrong in having difference of opinion among different juries. It is the credibility of the jury that matters. The decisions should be convincing,” said Dr Biju who won the award for Best Picture on Environment, for ‘Valiya Chirakulla Pakshikal,’ which did not get any mention in the state. In an exception, both the juries selected the same actor for the best child actor award - Gaurav Menon for his role in ‘Ben.’