71st National Film Awards: Prithviraj Sukumaran on Aadujeevitham could have won

After the 71st National Film Awards were announced on August 1, the expected followed — a discourse on the wins and the snubs. Fans and social media users were shocked that Prithviraj Sukumaran’s critically acclaimed survival thriller Aadujeevitham, an adaptation of Benyamin’s novel of the same name, was ignored at the coveted awards. Many felt that both Sukumaran as well as director Blessy should have won the Best Actor and Best Director awards, respectively.

With the omission sparking strong backlash, National Awards jury member Pradeep Nair, in an interview, revealed that while the film was in contention, jury chairperson Ashutosh Gowariker and others “felt the adaptation lacked naturality and the performances didn’t feel authentic”.

A week before the announcement of the National Film Awards, when mid-day sat down with Sukumaran to discuss his latest release Sarzameen, we had asked him about the memes on social media that claimed he might be the frontrunner for the big win.

The actor said, “No award is a goalpost in my mind. All that I ever wanted from that film, I’ve already got. My number one [criterion] was that I wanted the film to work. I wanted people to like my performance, and most importantly, I wanted the world to know that man’s story. All three happened. There’s nothing else that I want from the film. If I get a National Award, great; if I don’t, congratulations to whoever gets it.” In Aadujeevitham, Sukumaran played Najeeb, a Malayali migrant labourer trapped in Saudi Arabia.