Sudha Kongara Thanks Mentor Mani Ratnam After Winning National Award

At the 68th National Film Awards, Sudha Kongara's Soorarai Pottru took home five honours, including the award for best director. Kongara has written an emotional thank you note to her late father, mentor Mani Ratnam, Suriya, and Captain Gopinath after the crucial win.

Sudha Kongara also won Best Feature Film and Best Screenplay at the National film Awards. In addition to the national award, at the 78th Golden Globe Awards, Soorarai Pottru received a nomination for Best Foreign Film. At the Shanghai International Film Festival, Soorarai Pottru was also shown in the Panorama section.

This Tamil-language drama was directed by Sudha Kongara and produced by Suriya, Jyothika, and Guneet Monga. Kongara co-wrote the script together with Shalini Usha Nair. The additional screenplay was contributed by Aalif Surti and Ganeshaa, and the dialogue was written by Vijay Kumar and P. Virumandi. The film stars Suriya, Aparna Balamurali, and Paresh Rawal in main roles along with Mohan Babu, Urvashi, and Karunas.

Sudha Kongara Thanks Mentor Mani Ratnam, Late Father, And Others:

Kongara wrote a thank-you note to her late father, her mentor, Mani Ratnam, and others after receiving the National Award. Speaking of her father in the thank-you note, she wrote, "The journey of this movie began with my dad's passing. The last image I have of my father is of him gesturing for me to return to him from his bed as I was standing in the doorway. In Soorarai Pottru, I went back and inserted this as a scene. As filmmakers, I believe the majority of us are essentially just voyeurs, seeking out these moments in our lives to include in our films."

Kongara also expressed gratitude to Mani Ratnam, who served as her mentor and with whom she co-directed a film. She wrote, "Gratitude to my guru, Without everything you've taught me, Mani, what am I? A zero. "

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Suriya, and Captain Gopinath were also acknowledged by Kongara. She thanked Gopinath for sharing his life story with her and Suriya for presenting it on television. For making the movie a success, Sudha Kongara expressed her gratitude to the cast, crew, and fans. As a closing remark, she paid tribute to those filmmakers who work tirelessly to produce films and tell stories in the ways they see fit.

More about Sudha Kongara:

Indian filmmaker and screenwriter Sudha Kongara Prasad primarily creates films in Tamil and Telugu. Kongara started her career as a screenwriter for the English film Mitr, My Friend (2002). She has worked as an associate director for seven years with Mani Ratnam. She made her directorial debut in 2008 with the Telugu film Andhra Andagadu, starring Krishna Bhagavaan. However, the film was not successful. She later directed the Tamil film Drohi.

In 2016, she directed the bilingual Irudhi Suttru (Saala Khadoos in Hindi), for which she won the Filmfare Award for Best Director – Tamil. In 2020, she directed the Tamil anthology films Putham Pudhu Kaalai's segment Ilamai Idho Idho for Amazon Prime Video and Paava Kadhaigalwhich 's segment Thangam for Netflix.