Date:17/03/2006 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2006/03/17/stories/2006031700860200.htm

Andhra Pradesh - Visakhapatnam

Award for `Grahanam' director

Special Correspondent

Award carries 1.5 lakhs, memento

VISAKHAPATNAM: `Grahanam' director Indraganti Mohanakrishna has bagged the prestigious ninth Gollapudi Srinivas Memorial Foundation national award for the year 2005.

Announcing this here on Thursday, actor and writer Gollapudi Maruthi Rao who instituted the award in memory of his son, said the award, given for excellence in debut ventures of feature film directors, carries Rs.1.5 lakh in cash and a memento.

Mr. Mohanakrishna was chosen from 15 nominations of directors across the country, including Hindi, Malayalam, Bengali, Telugu, Tamil and English languages. The jury consisted of Gowri Ramnarayan, veteran director Singeetam Srinivasa Rao and Kalyanaraman.

Path-breaking theme

`Grahanam,' which was based on a haunting story `Doshagunam' by noted Telugu writer Chalam, explores the complex ways in which female sexuality is controlled in a patriarchal society, Mr. Prasad said.

The previous award winners were Leslie Carvalho (1997) for `The Outhouse' (English), followed by Shyama Prasad for `Agni Sakshi' (Malayalam), Manju Borah for `Baibhab' (Assamese), Subrata Sen for `Ek Je Aache Kanya' (Bengali), Janaki Viswanathan for `Kutty' (Tamil), Ram Madhvani for `Let's Talk' (English), Anup Kurian for `Manasarovar' (English) and Shonali Bose for `Amu' (Bengali), in that order. The award will be given away this year on August 12 in Chennai.