Nithya Menen defends National Award win for Thiruchitrambalam after backlash: 'Why is it ignored...'

Actress Nithya Menen has responded to the furore around her Best Actress win at the National Film Awards. The actress won the ward jointly for Thiruchitrambalam but some fans criticised the win saying the role wasn’t challenging or dramatic enough. Now, the actress has justified her win, saying only dramatic wins shouldn’t win all the time.

In a recent interview following the announcement of her win on Friday, Nithya Menen said, “I feel satiated with the fact that Thiruchitrambalam is the film that got me this award. The thing is, I always want to do films that make me happy while I am doing it and make others happy while watching it. I believe there is more merit in making another person smile or be happy than trying, in a very self-centred way, to do a role in the hope that it will be validated with an award.”

Thiruchitrambalam is a romantic comedy that also stars Dhanush. Many fans noted that Sai Pallavi’s criticially-acclaimed act in Gargi was overlooked in favour of Nithya’s performance here. However, Nithya said that roles in the comedy genre deserve just as much accolades as drama. “Take, for instance, a comedy film. It isn’t easy to write or act in that genre of films. But why is it ignored for the awards just because it is not dramatic. This win for Thiruchitrambalam and Shobana proves that awards aren’t given just for dramatic roles. You shouldn’t have to be in prosthetics to win an award. There is a kind of mongering towards doing certain types of dramatic roles,” she added.

The 70^th National Film Awards were announced by the jury on Friday afternoon. Nithya Menen shared the Best Actress prize with Manasi Parekh for her performance in the Gujarati film Kutch Express. Rishab Shetty won the Best Actor award for the sensational Kannada hit Kantara. Malayalam film Aattam won Best Film while Mani Ratnam’s Ponniyin Selvan-1 won most awards.

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