Kerala Cultural Affairs Minister AK Balan announced the much-awaited Kerala State Film Awards on Wednesday and as expected, Jayasurya shared the best actor award with Soubin Shahir. However, a section of media outlets in Kerala has reported that it was a noble move from Mohanlal that helped Jayasurya and Soubin to win the honours.
Several leading newspapers in Malayalam, including Mathrubhumi, reported that Mohanlal had asked the jury members not to consider his name while finalising the winners in the best actor category. The news report revealed that Mohanlal has been asking to withdraw his name from the competition list for the past two years as a step to promote young stars in the industry.
It should be noted that Manju Warrier also followed the path of Mohanlal and had apparently informed the jury members to remove her name from the contenders' list in the best actress award category.
Earlier, several reports had surfaced online that tough competition is going on between Mohanlal and Jayasurya to win the best actor award. Jury members considered Mohanlal's performance in 'Odiyan' and had apparently shortlisted the actor in the final three. Manju Warrier was named in the final list for her stellar performances in movies like 'Aami' and 'Odiyan'.
In the meantime, a section of social media users has started trolling Mohanlal for this unexpected move. As per these social media users, the complete actor has decided not to contest after realizing that he will lose the race to young actors like Jayasurya and Soubin Shahir.
Recently, several reports have also surfaced online stating that jury chairman Kumar Sahni was literally dissatisfied with the final list of award winners.
Sahni had refrained himself from attending the award announcing press meet, and AK Balan clarified that Sahni was not feeling well. Some local media houses have reported that Kumar Sahni was not happy with movies like 'Sudani from Nigeria', and this was apparently the reason behind his absence in the award announcing press meet.
