National Awards 2024: Nithya Menen On Thiruchitrambalam After Big Win: "Performances That Look Simple On The Outside…"

Nithya Menen, who bagged the National Award in the Best Actress category for her performance in Thiruchitrambalam, looked back at the shooting days of the film and shared a long Thank You note on Instagram. The first frame features Nithya Menen and her co-stars in the film Dhanush, Prakash Raj and Bharathiraja. The men can be seen dressed in the traditional South-Indian ensembles while Nithya wears a white salwar suit. The album features a series of BTS pictures from the film. Incidentally, the film clocked 2 years today. Nithya began her note with these words, “2 years of Thiruchitrambalam today. We could all not meet for this one, but it still comes with a celebration. I think it’s poetic justice that my first National Award should come for us through this film. What an experience it has been.”

Thanking fans and well-wishers who congratulated her on the success, Nithya wrote, “Thank you everyone who called me, who were jumping with joy, who were so overwhelmed and couldn’t speak. To everyone who I have never met, but who have so much love for me in their heart and bless me from a distance, and always wished this so intensely. I felt that everyone were experiencing it as if they had won themselves. What a blessing it is when people root for you so personally.”

Thanking the National Awards Jury, Nithya wrote, “This is a genuine Thank You to the regional and central jury of National Awards 2024, for recognising and awarding this film. For acknowledging that even performances that look simple on the outside are not simple to do. And this is also work that is substantial. A Good performance is not synonymous with dramatic weight loss or gain, prosthetics or any major physical transformation. Those are a part of a performance but they are not ‘the’ performance. I have always strived to prove this. And you have helped me do so successfully.”

Thanking her co-stars and acknowledging their contribution in the film, Nithya Menen wrote, “For Thiruchitrambalam, any award that any of us gets, will belong to, and be shared by all four of us equally. Because I have never before been a part of a film where the lead actors have contributed so equally to the performance of the film as a whole. So this is one quarter Bharathiraja sir’s, @joinprakashraj , @dhanushkraja and mine. I love you guys a lot. Thank you for being so vocal about my strengths. It’s hard to come by in a place where rumours are talked about more than the truth. Here’s to more films of us together.” Take a look:

Nithya shared the award with Manasi Parekh, who won for her role in Kutch Express (Gujarati) at the 70th annual National Film Awards. After her big win, Nithya Menen told Indian Express,  “Honestly, I didn’t know they were announcing the National Awards. It might sound unusual, but I actually live under a rock. I like to be cut off from the bustle. I didn’t expect it at all.”

Directed by Mithran Jawahar, Thiruchitrambalam features Dhanush and Nithya as best friends Thiru and Shobana. In the film, Thiru shares a good rapport with his grandfather (Bharathiraja) but  he struggles to connect with his father (Prakash Raj), who is a police officer.