68th National Film Awards: Rajinikanth and Kamal Haasan wish Soorarai Pottru team and other winners

The 68th National Film Awards was announced yesterday and Soorarai Pottru team bagged five awards - Best Actor, Best Actress, Best Feature Film, Best Screenplay, and Best Background Score. The film, directed by Sudha Kongara, is based on the life of low-cost airline inventor Captain GR Gopinath. While Suriya and Aparna Balamurali play the leads, both of whom went on to win the National Award for the Best Actor and Actress, GV Prakash, who composed the music for the film, bagged the National Award for the Best Background Score. Sudha Kongara and Shalini Usha Nair bagged the award for the Best Screenplay.

Director Vasanth's Sivaranjiniyum Innum Sila Pengalum (Best Feature Film, Best Supporting Actress- Lakshmi Priya Chandramouli and Best Editing-Sreekar Prasad) bagged three awards and Madonne Ashwin's Mandela (Best Debut Director and Best Dialogues) bagged two awards, thus taking the tally of the Tamil winners to ten. 

Superstar Rajinikanth wished the winners on his social media page. His post in Tamil translates to "My heartfelt congratulations and appreciation to Suriya, Soorarai Pottru director and all the award winners (sic)."

Ulaganayagan Kamal Haasan, who himself has four National Awards in his kitty, too, wished everyone on his social media page. He wrote, "I am proud that Soorarai Pottru has won five National Awards. Along with Sivaranjiniyum Innum Sila Pengalum and Mandela, the Tamil film industry has bagged 10 awards in total. It's indeed a proud moment and the industry has made everyone sit up and take notice. My heartfelt wishes to all the winners (sic)."

In the meantime, wishes have been pouring in from across the industry. Suriya had penned a long letter in which he stated, "The National Award gives me the motivation to work harder and walk my talk...and give good films, now and always." GV Prakash had stated that it's nice to be recognised for one's hard work. Director Vasanth, on the other hand, dedicated the award to his guru K Balanchander.