Standing ovation for Mohanlal at the 64th National Film Awards ceremony

The 64th National Film Awards ceremony took place on May 3 at the Rashtrapati Bhavan in New Delhi. Akshay Kumar and Malayali actress Surabhi Lakshmi won the top honours for best actors for their performances in Rustom and Minnaminungu respectively.

Malayalam cinema won a total of seven awards this year. Mohanlal won the Special Jury award for his performance in Pulimurugan, Munthirivallikal Thalirkkumbol and Telugu movie Janatha Garage.

Mohanlal was given a standing ovation by the eminent personalities gathered for the function. This is his fourth National award and second in the special jury category. His tryst with the National awards started with a special jury mention in 1989 for his performance in Kireedam. Two years later, he followed it up with his first National award for best actor for his performance in Bharatham (1991). In 1999, he won the best actor award for Vanaprastham. The movie, also produced by Mohanlal, won the honour for best film that year.

This year, the National award jury was headed by ace filmmaker Priyadarshan. The jury honoured Mohanlal with the special jury award after taking into account his performances both in Telugu and Malayalam. This is in fact the first time that an actor’s performance in two different languages is being considered for the National special jury award.