‘The Kerala Story’ National Award win: Director feels Adah Sharma deserved best actress, calls industry validation unimportant – Read more

‘The Kerala Story’ won two National Awards recently, but director Sudipto Sen feels the film deserved even more. He especially feels sad that lead actress Adah Sharma didn’t get the Best Actress award. In an interview, he shared his thoughts on the film’s journey, his struggles, and how the audience’s love matters more to him than industry recognition.The film won two major awards as Best Director and Best Cinematography, but Sudipto feels disappointed that actress Adah Sharma and other key team members weren’t honoured.In a conversation with Hindustan Times, Sudipto shared that while winning Best Director was a pleasant surprise, he was really hoping for technical categories like writing and makeup to be acknowledged too. "It was a surprise. I expected technical awards. I wanted the work of my technicians to be recognised. When a film becomes so big that even two years after its release, it is being talked about, then it is definitely technically good. That was why I had reason to expect my technicians would get the award. My DOP did, but I would have been happy if my writer, my makeup artist, and my actress Adah Sharma had also won. But that did not happen, and I was a little sad." he said.Despite this, he’s grateful for the appreciation the film has received. Coming from a humble background and working hard for over two decades, he feels proud to have finally earned such a prestigious recognition.Sudipto also spoke about not feeling accepted by mainstream Bollywood. Living in Mumbai for 25 years, he still feels like an outsider. "I have been living in Mumbai for almost 25 years, but I never felt at home with Bollywood. I don't belong to the genre of cinema that the Mumbai film industry makes. I remain an outsider here. People hardly know me here. Their validation was never a big aspect in my cinematic journey. My audience's validation was important," he explained.'The Kerala Story' follows the story of young women from Kerala who are influenced and recruited by ISIS. The film claimed to be based on true events, which sparked protests and legal issues in Kerala, including a ban.Even so, it was a hit with viewers and earned over ₹300 crore at the box office. Sudipto says the film’s success and lasting impact show that it can’t just be dismissed as “propaganda.”