A day after the country celebrated the election of tribal leader Draupadi Murmu as the President of India, a tribal folk singer from Kerala’s Palakkad was adjudged the national award for the best female singer.
A native of Attapadi, she used to graze sheep and do farm work before making forays into the tinsel world. She dedicated the award to Sachi ( KR Sachidanandan), who died in 2020. She also played a role in ‘Ayyappanum Koshiyum’, which was also selected as the best Malayalam movie, as the mother-in-law of the main actor Biju Menon. “Sachi was God to me. He encouraged me a lot to sing in a natural way. He took me to fame I never dreamt of,” she said.
Laurels came to Nanjiamma (62) for her song in Malayalam movie ‘Ayyappanum Koshiyum’, written and directed by KR Sachidanandan. “It was unexpected. Well, I can go to Delhi for first time and I can meet our beloved President also,” she said in her first reaction.
The tribal song, which won the award, is written by her in Irula language and composed by Jakes Bejoy. It became a big hit after its release on YouTube in 2020, receiving 10 million views in a month. The song was a big hit even before the release of the movie, an action-thriller centred around a conflict between a wealthy planter, Koshi Kurian, and sub-inspector Ayyappan Nair.
Once she complained to newsmen that since her song turned a hit people stopped calling her for farm work under the rural employment guarantee scheme. “They say they cannot hire a singer and actor for such work as they feel bad about it.” The film fraternity and art lovers helped her to build a new house and she was shifted from the hut where she was living with her family members.
Chief minister Pinarayi Vijayan and Opposition leader V D Satheesan congratulated the singer and the crew of ‘Ayyappanum Koshiyum’, which also bagged the national award for best supporting actor (Biju Menon) and stunt (M Sasi). The Hindi remake of the movie starring Abhishek Bachchan and John Abraham is in the making.
The winners for the 68th National Film Awards were selected by the 10-member jury headed by Hindi filmmaker Vipul Shah and the awards were announced by jury member Dharam Gulati on Friday.
