THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: For the jury led by Hindi filmmaker Saeed Akthar Mirza, choosing the best Malayalam movies of 2021 might have been a Herculean task. With several experimental entries and a few stellar performances staking claim, the jury had to watch some movies more than once.
After a month-long exercise by the jury, the verdict will be delivered by Culture Minister Saji Cherian on Friday. What makes the fight for honours interesting this time is the multiple entries from the two superstar families for the best actor award. Nominations for Mammootty (The Priest and One), son Dulquer Salman (Kurup) as well as Mohanlal (Marakkar) and son Pranav (Hridayam) were in front of the jury, which watched around 45 movies picked by preliminary juries from a total 142.
Sources said chances for the best actor prize, however, are more for Fahadh Faazil for his role in Joji and for Joju George for Nayattu and Churuli. Tovino Thomas (Minnal Murali) and Biju Menon (Arkkariyam) are also in the race. Anna Ben, Nimisha Sajayan, Parvathy Thiruvothu, Manju Warrier, Darshana Rajendran and Grace Antony are in contention for the best actress award.
Somasundaram, Suraj favourites
Guru Somasundaram and Suraj Venjarammoodu are the favourites for the best character actor role.
Sidharth Siva’s Aanu, Don Palathra’s 1956, Central Travancore, Thara Ramanujam’s Nishiddho, Manoj Kana’s Kenjira, Sherry Govindan-T Deepesh ‘s Avanovilona are among the frontrunners for the best film and director awards.
There was a stiff competition in music and playback singer categories too, said sources. Directors K Gopinathan and Sunderdas were the chairmen of the two preliminary juries and both were part of the main jury too.