Still from Aattam
The 70th National Film Awards was announced today by the Union Ministry of Information & Broadcasting. Several south cinema shone at the awards. The films that were certified in 2022 were eligible for the awards. While Nithya Menen, Manasi Parekh and Rishab Shetty bagged top honours in acting, the Malayalam film 'Aattam' bagged the award for Best Feature Film.
Even though the film was made on a small budget, 'Aattam' made a huge impact among cinephiles when it was released last year. The film gained a larger audience after its OTT release earlier this year. And now the film has received a major nod from the National Films Award jury. 'Aattam' directed by Anand Ekarshi won three awards- Best Feature Film, Best Editing, and Best Screenplay.
'Aattam' is loosely based on the popular American courtroom drama 'Twelve Angry Men'. The film won the 2023 Grand Jury Award at the Indian Film Festival of Los Angeles. It was also chosen as the opening feature film at the 54th International Film Festival of India held in Goa. After a successful run at the festival in 2023, the film got a theatrical release in January 2024. However, the release was limited but the praise was immense. Therefore when it was released on OTT, more and more people began to enjoy the brilliance of the film.
Plot:
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The film revolves around a group of theatre artists who are shaken and divided when the sole female actor accuses a popular movie star of sexual harassment. The movie star had only recently joined their theatre group. The female actress confides the incident with a man from the group with whom she is in a relationship. He encourages her to bring it up with the team leader. Eventually, the group is made aware of the incident and everyone extends their support to her. However, the support gets divided when the accused actor brings in a potential opportunity to go international with their play. Unaware of the accusation, the actor happily introduces the team leader to foreigners who expressed interest in backing their play and taking it across Europe.
With this new information in light, some members of the group begin to withdraw their support toward the victim. They began to question her claim, which led to intense discussions, plotting and scheming among the theatre's group members.
The climax of the film takes the cake and is one that makes the journey worthy of it. You can watch the film on Prime Video and it is worth every minute spent watching this masterpiece.
Directed and written by debutant Anand Ekarshi, the film stars Vinay Forrt, Kalabhavan Shajohn, Zarin Shihab, Aji Thiruvamkulam, Jolly Antony, Madan Babu K, Nandhan Unni, Prasanth Madhavan, Sanosh Murali, Santhosh Piravom, Selvaraj Raghavan VR, Sijin Sijeesh, Sudheer Babu
The film has been edited by Mahesh Bhuvanend who also bagged the National Award for his work.
