National award totally unexpected and overwhelming honour, says Karuppu Durai child star Nagavishal

There were plenty of cheers for the team of Tamil film Karuppu Durai (2019) when the film’s young star Nagavishal was named Best Child Artiste at the 67th National Film Awards yesterday.

Nagavishal played Kutty, an eight-year-old orphan who befriends an 80-year-old man (Mu Ramaswamy) who leaves home after waking up from a coma to discover that his family was planning to kill him off, changing each other’s lives in the Yoodlee Films production directed by Madhumita Sundararaman.   

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An excited Nagavishal said, “This is a totally unexpected and overwhelming honour. The filming experience was so easy, and we were all one family on set. Madhumita Ma'am, my director, was like my elder sister. To get an honour like this at a national level is really something I wasn’t prepared for, and my family and friends are so happy and proud of me today.”

Filmmaker Madhumita said, “To get this kind of recognition, especially from the government, means a lot to all of us. Sometimes I forget that he [Nagavishal] is a child, especially when he speaks about his responsibility towards the betterment of his family.

“Nagavishal brought life to Kutty and deserves all these accolades and more,” she continued. “His win is a win for each one of my crew and cast who worked hard for KD to be what it is today. We are all so overwhelmed by the love that the audience has shown our film. Humbled and grateful.”

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Producer Siddharth Anand Kumar said, “It’s a happy coincidence that another child star, Talha Arshad Reshi, also won the National award for his performance in another of our productions Hamid [in 2019]. We tend to pick stories that speak to the heart and underscore the human condition with sensitivity. And a child's perspective always brings a new dimension to a film. KD was one such film and am not surprised that Naga has won this honour because his performance was both evocative and refreshingly simple. Kudos to Madhumita, too, for directing the film with such empathy.”