A day after a woman from a tribal community was elected as the President, the tribal community of Kerala has more reasons to cheer as a folk singer from the community won the national film award for the best female playback singer.
Nanjiyamma, who hailed from the Irula tribal community in the Attappadi tribal village of Palakkad district in Kerala, shot to fame through the title song of the award-winning Malayalam film Ayyappanum Koshiyum.
She had earlier received a special jury award in the state film awards.
Nanjiyamma, aged 62, gave all credits to the film director K R Sachidanandan, popularly known as Sachy, for making her a playback singer.
Till then she used to sing only for a local folk art forum of Attapadi.
Sachy also gave her a role in the film.
Sachy, who was selected as the best director for Ayyappanum Koshiyum, died in June 2020 a few months after the film was
released.
It was a small-time actor and folk art performer Pazhani Swami who introduced Nanjiyamma to Sachy.
Swami also plays a role in the film Ayyappanum Koshiyum, which was shot at Attappadi.
Published 23 July 2022, 00:53 IST