Veteran actress Sarada selected for J C Daniel Award for 2024

Thiruvananthapuram, Jan 16 (PTI) Veteran actress Sarada has been selected for the prestigious J C Daniel Award for 2024, given for lifetime contribution to Malayalam cinema.

This was announced by Kerala's Cultural Affairs Minister, Saji Cherian, on Friday.

In a Facebook post, Cherian said the award would be presented by Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan at the Kerala State Film Awards ceremony to be held at Nishagandhi in Thiruvananthapuram on January 25.

The J C Daniel Award, the highest film honour instituted by the Kerala government, carries a cash prize of Rs 5 lakh, a citation and a sculpture.

The awardee was selected by a jury chaired by Sreekumaran Thampi, winner of the 2017 J C Daniel Award, with actress Urvashi and director Balu Kiriyath as members and Chalachitra Academy secretary C Ajoy as member secretary, Cherian said.

Eighty-year-old Sarada becomes the 32nd film personality to receive the Kerala government’s highest film honour.

The jury noted that Sarada, who proved herself an actress of extraordinary talent, won the National Film Award for Best Actress twice for her performances in Malayalam cinema.

According to the jury, over the course of two decades from the 1960s onwards, she immortalised the Malayali woman on screen.

With restrained yet powerful expressions, she portrayed the sufferings and hardships of women of that era, Cheran said.

She won her first National Film Award in 1968 for the film Thulabharam, followed by national recognition for Adoor Gopalakrishnan’s Swayamvaram in 1972 and the Telugu film Nimajjanam in 1977.

Through films such as Triveni, Murappennu, Mooladhanam and Oru Minnaminunginte Nurunguvettam, she portrayed many unforgettable characters, making her a deserving recipient of the state’s highest film honour, the jury observed.

Born on June 25, 1945, in Tenali in Andhra Pradesh, Sarada was named Saraswathi Devi, the daughter of Venkateswara Rao and Sathyavani Devi.

She adopted the screen name Sarada while acting in her first Telugu film Irumitralu.

She made her Malayalam cinema debut in 1965 with Inapravukal, written by Muttathu Varkey and directed by Kunchacko.

Sarada has acted in around 125 Malayalam films.

She was also the first Malayalam actress whose films were selected for the retrospective section of the International Film Festival of Kerala.

Her films were screened at the 24th edition of the festival held in 2019. PTI TBA TBA ROH