Aadujeevitham: Blessy disappointed by AR Rahman's snub at 54th Kerala State Film Awards

Aadujeevitham, The Goat Life, was the result of director Blessy's 16-year perseverance. The filmmaker first announced the project in 2008 based on the novel of the same name. Little did he know that it would take more than 15 years just to begin production on his ambitious project.

Blessy's wait paid off as it emerged as this year's biggest hit with Rs 160 crore in ticket sales. The film also managed to sweep top awards at the recently announced 54th Kerala State Film Awards. Blessy won awards for Best Director and Best Screenplay (Adaptation). The Best Actor award went to the movie's lead actor, Prithviraj Sukumaran, while KR Gukul won a Special Jury Award for his terrific supporting performance. Sound designer Resul Pookutty also won the award for Best Mixing, along with Best Colorist and Best Makeup Artist. However, Blessy expressed disappointment with the jury's snub to Oscar-winning composer AR Rahman's score.

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"This is my eighth movie, and I saw an outstanding performance during the re-recording of this movie. The music was created using different languages. I am disappointed that it was not considered for the award," Blessy told the media, while also expressing his gratitude to the awards committee for honoring his movie with top honors.

The jury picked composer Justin Varghese's score for Chaaver over Rahman's for Aadujeevitham. Blessy noted that he was surprised that such a big score was ignored for awards.

"I know the pain and the amount of hard work that went into creating this. It's not a matter of who did it, but such a big musical score went missing from the winners' list. The songs that are being celebrated across Kerala are missing. My question is how? I am not making complaints, just sharing my regrets," he ruefully added.

Blessy also credited his cast and crew for the success of Aadujeevitham. "How will you become the best director? Only when the output of each cast and crew member is the best," he emphasized.

Aadujeevitham is now streaming on Netflix.

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