Navya Nair has been selected as a jury member for the 49th Kerala State Film Awards. The Jury will be headed by Kumar Shahani, the screenwriter of the acclaimed 1972 movie Maya Darpan. The State Film Awards are organised by the Department of Cultural Affairs of the State Government. The first awards were held in 1969, with over 30 awards across different categories.
Ottamuri Velicham was adjudged the best film last year while Indrans and Parvathy walked away with the award for the best actor and actress. This year, Navya Nair will join the likes of Sherry Govindan, George Joseph, K G Jayan, Mohandas, Vijayakrishnan, Biju Sukumaran and Berny-Ignatius as jury members. P.K. Pokker will be the chairman of the literary section while Dr Jinesh Kumar Eramom and Saritha Varma are the jury members in this category. State Film Award member Mahesh Panju is a member of both sections.
Navya Nair is herself a two-time winner of Kerala State Film Award for Best Actress. She is best known for her performance in the 2002 movie Nandanam in which she played the role of an ardent Krishna devotee. Having won her first award then, she garnered the second one in 2005 for her performance in multiple movies Kanne Madanguka and Saira.
Saira — starring Navya Nair and Nedumudi Venu in the lead — also marked the directorial debut of Dr Biju. The film was screened at the 2007 Cannes Film Festival under the World Cinema Category. The film was screened at more than 20 other festivals. The actress has also appeared in a few Tamil films like Azhagiya Theeye and Aadum Koothu. The latter had won the National Award for the best Tamil film for the year.
Recognition has come to her not only from films. Nair, a trained dancer, made Chinnanchiru Kiliye, a story about a mother and child that sheds light on the issue of child trafficking. Not only was the video a huge hit on YouTube amassing more than 7 lakh views, but the Kerala government picked it up for the promotion of Saranabalyam – a project for rehabilitation of street children.
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She had spoken about the issue of child trafficking to DC. “As a socially conscious person, I have my views on matters like gender inequality and progressive movements. But being a mother, children’s issues have affected me a lot. The thought of staying as a helpless person when children are attacked, abused and killed worldwide pains me a lot.”
Image Courtesy: YouTube