Thrissur: Veteran Malayalam film director Sibi Malayil has come up with a shocking revelation detailing an unfortunate moment he witnessed as a jury member of the National Film Awards. 

He claimed that the decision to award Sujatha the 'best female playback singer' had been overturned at the last minute in 2007.

The incident goes like this. Sujatha was selected as the best female singer for her song ‘Thattam Pidichu Valikkalle’ from the Malayalam movie ‘Paradesi’. 

“Cinematographer Sunny Joseph and I were the Malayali representatives in the jury that year. We wanted ‘Paradesi’, a beautifully crafted film from Kerala, to bag multiple awards. We strongly vouched for the movie in the jury panel. We thought we were a little successful when the jury finally decided to award the best female playback singer award to Sujatha. 

The decision was confirmed as well. However, after lunch, a festival director, who was a North Indian, walked in and inquired us about the person who won the award for the best female playback singer. When he came to know that the winner was Sujatha, he asked the committee members whether they had not heard the song ‘Yeh Ishq Hai’ sung by Shreya Ghoshal in the film ‘Jab We Met’. 

He immediately arranged a video cassette and played the particular song for them. The jury members changed their decision, and the award went to Shreya Ghoshal that year. The same person also suggested giving Shahrukh an award instead of giving it to Mohanlal as he thought the decision would add glamour to the award function,” said Sibi Malayil.

Sibil Malayil revealed the details after years while inaugurating a function organised by those close to the late P T Kunju Muhammed in his memory, who was also the director of the film ‘Paradesi’.