Naama jeyichuttom Maara: Sudha Kongara on her Suriya-starrer Soorarai Pottru winning five awards at National Awards

When Sudha Kongara learnt that her film Soorarai Pottru, starring Suriya in the lead, has won five honours at the National Awards, she had just three words to describe her emotions at that time. “I turned to my assistants in the room and said, ‘Naama jeyichuttom Maara’. That was all that was going through my mind. This is insane, this is crazy! This is National Awards and you are giving me the top honours! It was a lot of disbelief, and a lot of gratitude and a feeling of validation.You know, the film didn’t come out in theatres. But it got a lot and lot of love, and now to get the National Awards as well…,” begins Sudha, who shares the Best Screenplay award with Shalini Usha Nair for the film.
Ask Sudha if she felt it in her bones that the film would come in for critical acclaim and also win awards while she filming it, and she says with a laugh, “I want to deliver a very good product and it has to do damn well at the box office – these are the only two thoughts that govern me all the time. Be it when I’m choosing the script or making the film. You know, when I was shooting this film and was watching these wonderful technicians and actors working, somewhere, this little devil in me kept saying that they should get an award. I felt that when I was watching GV (Prakash, who won Best Background Score for the film) work, Suriya (who won the Best Actor award) work. I feel the biggest victory is Aparna’s (Aparna Balamurali won the Best Actress award. My proudest takeaway from the film is that she has won.”
So, when’s the celebration? “Well, the birthday boy gets his birthday gift, which is his National Award! The film is releasing in a theatre now, and we will also be watching it with the audience. We are going to catch the audience’s reaction, something which we missed when the film released initially on OTT. And that’s my celebration – being with the people and seeing their love and support,” she signs off with a smile.