Renowned Malayalam actress Urvashi who recently won her second National Film Awards in Best Supporting Actress category for 2023 film Ullozhukku has slammed the National Awards jury for not deeming her eligible in Best Actress category despite her playing the lead role in the film.

She further criticised the jury for overlooking Vijayaraghavan’s performance in Pookkaalam for Best Actor while Shah Rukh Khan was eligible for Jawan and eventually won it.

Talking about why she wasn’t considered in Best Actress category despite playing the lead role in Ullozhukku. She told Manorama News, “Is there any standard scale for acting? Or is it that after a certain age, this is all you’ll get? This is not pension money to be silently accepted. How are these decisions made? What criteria is followed?”

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Criticising Vijayaraghavan’s win in Best Supporting Actor and not in the Best Actor category for Pookkaalam. She told Asianet News, “Why do we have awards? On what basis are they given? That needs to be made clear, regardless of the category. If the approach is to give away awards as they see fit and expect us to accept them without question, that needs to change. If I don’t raise these questions now, what should the next generation of artistes expect? Once actor Rima Kallingal told me, ‘If this is what you (despite being a proven veteran actor) have to go through, just imagine how worse it would be for all of us.'”

She added, “How did you distinguish between Vijayaraghavan’s and Shah Rukh Khan’s performances? How did one become a supporting actor and the other the best actor? On what criteria? We should raise such questions, as we too are taxpaying citizens. I was initially approached to play his pair in Pookkaalam. Still, I declined because the role required me to undergo a significant physical transformation, for which I would have had to be in the makeup chair for several hours. I told them, even if you pay me crores, I wouldn’t do it. But he, at his age, endured all of that and performed. That alone deserves at least a Special Mention.”

Besides Shah Rukh Khan, Vikrant Massey won for 12th Fail and Rani Mukerji for Mrs Chatterjee Vs Norway.