Amaran wins three at the 72nd National Awards

Amaran has added three National Awards to its name, landing the wins in the same year that RaajKamal Films International marks 46 years. At the 72nd National Film Awards, announced this week, the 2024 release took Best Direction for Rajkumar Periasamy, Best Music Direction for G.V. Prakash Kumar’s background score, and Best Editing for R. Kalaivanan.

Co-produced by RaajKamal Films International, Sony Pictures and Turmeric Media, and presented by Kamal Haasan, the film carried the story of Major Mukund Varadarajan to a wide audience, led by Sivakarthikeyan and Sai Pallavi in performances that held its emotional centre. The three honours recognise the craft underneath that: Periasamy’s clarity behind the camera, Prakash’s score, and Kalaivanan’s edit shaping the film’s rhythm.

Amaran was built on the life of Major Mukund Varadarajan, the Ashoka Chakra recipient who fought and fell for the country, with Sai Pallavi playing his wife Indu Rebecca. Its account of courage and loss, and the technical finish that framed it, is what carried the film with audiences on release.

For Kamal Haasan, whose banner presented and co-produced the film, the wins are both a celebration of the craft and of the man the film was made for.

For R. Mahendran, whose Turmeric Media co-produced the film, the journey to Amaran began years before the cameras rolled. He first came to the story while producing a Vijay TV programme, Mudhal Mariyathai: Salute to the Indian Army.

“In 2016, while producing Mudhal Mariyathai: Salute to the Indian Army for Vijay TV, I first came to know Major Mukund Varadarajan’s story. His valour, Indu’s quiet strength of mind, and the sacrifices made by the families of our soldiers never left me.

So that every Indian, and above all every child, would know the person behind the uniform, we decided in 2024 to tell this story as Amaran.

Some journeys begin as films. Some become very close to the heart. Amaran is one such journey. I feel deeply moved, grateful and proud when I think of the Amaran team.”

Amaran was one of the Tamil titles in the spotlight at this week’s ceremony, where the language’s presence ran across acting, technical and craft categories. For a film built on a real soldier’s life, the direction, music and editing awards read as a nod to how much of its impact came from the making rather than the marketing.

The three wins also arrive at a milestone the banner has been quietly building toward. RaajKamal Films International has spent 46 years backing films that put their weight behind a story and the people telling it, and Amaran now sits inside that record alongside the studio’s continuing slate.

That slate is already moving. RaajKamal’s SK21, which brings Sivakarthikeyan back to the banner alongside Kamal Haasan, has been switched on, keeping the production house in front of the camera even as the Amaran honours land.

Three National Awards, in a 46th year, for a film RaajKamal, Sony Pictures and Turmeric Media chose to make together: that is the note the banner closes this chapter on.