Chiyaan Vikram’s outstanding brilliance as an artist in ‘I’ movie hasn’t pleased the National Award committee and this led to furor among his Fans. Although Kollywood bagged six awards at the 63rd National Awards, the one film ‘I’ and one hero Vikram going without recognition isn’t an encouraging move. The film is quite remarkable in Vikram’s career because he has undergone huge physical stress in transforming the body.
Music director Gangai Amaran, one of the members in National Awards jury was also shocked to see the result. ‘I was shocked early on because ‘I’ did not make it to final short list. There are many reasons involved in the screening process. To enter into the final shortlist, a movie should be ranked among top 30 per cent of films that are submitted to central committee review.
Suriya’s ‘Pasanga 2’ and Mani Ratnam’s ‘Ok Kanmani’ also failed to go into finals. Jury panel is divided into 6 groups on regional basis among South Indian states. While Tamil and Malayalam are in one group; Kannada and Telugu are in other. I asked for re-review and re-examined of ‘I’ in final stage but the request was countered by other members who also wanted few of their language films for re-examination. Ultimately ‘I’ was dropped much before preparing the final shortlist,’ Gangai Amaran said on how Vikram and ‘I’ became scapegoats in National Awards politics.