Urvashi On Aadujeevitham Snub At National Film Awards: We Know It’s Because Of Empuraan

Veteran actor Urvashi won the National Award for Best Supporting Actress for Ullozhukku, for which she is grateful. But in several interviews, she raised concerns and questioned the logic and criteria behind categorising her role as "supporting" and not as "best actress". In a new interview, Urvashi also expressed disappointment over the snubbing of Blessy's Aadujeevitham, starring Prithviraj Sukumaran.

Urvashi on Aadujeevitham snub

Urvashi, in an interview with The News Minute, questioned how the National Film Awards jury could ignore Aadujeevitham, stating, "You have an actor who has given time and effort and gone through a physical transformation to showcase the life of Najeeb, and his gut-wrenching suffering."

"We all know it is because of Empuraan. Awards cannot get political," she added, referring to the controversy Prithviraj's directorial faced upon its release.

The actress said that she can speak, because she is not "dependent on any political party."

She added, "I pay my taxes, I have no fear. I am raising this, not for me, but for those who walk behind me. I do not want anyone telling them, ‘Even Urvashi kept quiet when she won, why are you making noise?’"

Slams jury

The 56-year-old actress also called out the jury for considering lead roles for awards in the 'supporting' category. "If they select lead characters for the award for supporting roles, then what happens to the actual supporting actors? Where is the motivation for them to try to better their craft? How did they measure acting to decide whether it is a lead role or a supporting role?," she questioned.

What was L2: Empuraan controversy?

Prithviraj Sukumaran's L2: Empuraan, starring Mohanlal in the lead, sparked outrage for the scenes which allegedly depicted the 2002 Gujarat riots. After facing severe backlash from right-wing groups, the makers voluntarily decided to delete over two minutes of scenes from the movie.