Four films from Karnataka won honours under different categories in the 64th National Awards announced on Friday.
Reservation , directed by Nikhil Manjoo, bagged the Rajat Kamal for the best Kannada film. Allama , directed by T.S. Nagabharana, bagged awards for best make-up and best music direction. Manohar K. bagged the best child artiste award for his performance in Railway Children, directed by Prithvi Konanur.
Tulu film Madipu , directed by Chetan Mundadi, bagged the best feature film award in the category of languages other than those specified in Schedule VIII of the Constitution.
Mr. Manjoo’s film, as the name suggests, looks at the issue of caste-based reservation. “In India, caste is an everyday experience. It has historical, social and contemporary context and nuances. Reservation tries to portray the dilemma faced by an ordinary clerk in the context of reservation,” Mr. Manjoo said.
Bapu Padmanabha got the award for music composition and N.K. Ramakrishna for make-up for Allama , which is about the 12th century meta-physician Allama Prabhu who embarks on a quest for knowledge.
According to juries, the music adds soul to the film through Carnatic ragas, and the make-up gives a sense of history and time.
“It was a challenge to offer authentic look to three phases in the life of Allama,” said Mr. Ramakrishna.
Mr. Padmanabha said it was a challenge to compose music without distorting musical, literary and philosophical tone and tenor of 12th century vachanas.
The crew of Railway Children was confident of Manohar, 15, bagging an award. “As expected, he got the award,” said Mr. Konanur, a U.S.-returned IT professional. “I was disturbed on learning that an estimated 1.25 lakh children run away from home. While many of them return, others survive on railway platforms, enduring a lifetime of drugs, abuse, addiction, violence, and crime,” he said.
Made with crowd-funding, the film is inspired by real incidents and a research book, Rescuing Railway Children , written by Lalitha Iyer and Malcolm Harper.
Mudipu is the debut film of Mr. Mundadi. It highlights the “hollowness of orthodox traditions” and focuses on bhootaradhane tradition. Interestingly, Gaggara , which bagged an award in 2010, was about bhoota kola , another Tulu tradition.
