The nominations for superstar Suriya in the Best Actor category and his 2021 film Jai Bhim in the Best Film category at the 69th National Film Awards were being highly talked about and fans waited with bated breaths seeking their eventual victory.
When the final winners were declared on Thursday evening, a section of the audience were left saddened at the jury's politically motivated and populist choices. While Hindi and Telugu cinema reigned supreme with actors and technicians bagging the top honours in the important categories, the awards given to Tamil and Malayalam cinema technicians were mere lip-service.
Suriya and Jai Bhim lost out to the race as Allu Arjun picked the Best Actor title while R.Madhavan's Rocketry: The Nambi Effect was adjudged the Best Feature Film. While RRR picked up the award for Best Film for Providing Wholesome Entertainment, Kadaisi Vivasayi starring Nallindi and Vijay Sethupathi was adjudged the Best Tamil film.
Like fans, one actor who always spoke expressed profuse love for the film is Natural Star Nani. In an obvious attempt to express his displeasure, the actor took to Instagram and shared, 'Jai Bhim' on his story with a broken heart emoji.
Here's also an instance where the actor spoke about how he wished to do a film like Jai Bhim during a promotional interview with Ravi Teja for his film Dasara.
Directed by TJ Gnanavel, Jai Bhim was hugely appreciated by fans and cinema enthusiasts for its honest depiction of police brutality over marginalised communities. The story revolves around three tribal men who are falsely accused of theft and subject to harsh punishment for the law and order agencies. To seek justice, one's wife approaches an upright lawyer (played by Suriya) to take on the establishment. Besides the actor, the film also stars Manikandan, Lijimol Jose, Prakash Raj, Rajisha Vijayan, Guru Somasundaram, Rao Ramesh, Jayaprakash, Ilavarasu and Elango Kumaravel. Produced by Suriya's 2D Entertainment banner, the script of the film has been inducted in the Scene at the Academy section on the official YouTube channel of the Academy Awards.
