Kozhikode: Trangender actor Riya Isha has called out the award  jury for ignoring transgender artists in the recently declared Kerala state film awards 2022. Riya has alleged that none from the transgender community were considered for the award in the trasgender/women category. According to her, the jury had unanimously decided to hand over the award to female director Shruthi Sharanyam for her movie B 32 Muthal 44 Vare, ignoring the transgender artists who competed in the category.

Riya Isha said that it was unfair on the part of the jury members to not consider anyone from the transgender community for the award since that was the only category they were competing in. She also put forth the idea of introducing an exclusive award for the transgender community in the future competitions, rather than making women and transgenders compete for the same award. The actor has also given a complaint to minister Saji Cheriyan for reconsidering the decision to give away the honours to director Shruthi Sharanyam.

Riya Isha who had played the central character in the movie ‘Others’ and a bunch of other artists from the community had given their nominations for the particular award.