Minister for Cultural Affairs Saji Cherian announced that actress Sharada has been selected for the 2024 J. C. Daniel Award, which recognizes lifetime contributions to Malayalam cinema.
The J. C. Daniel Award, the highest film honor of the Government of Kerala, carries a cash prize of ₹5 lakh, a citation, and a sculpture. The award will be presented by Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan at the Kerala State Film Awards ceremony to be held on January 25 at Nishagandhi Auditorium, Thiruvananthapuram.
The awardee was selected by a committee chaired by Sreekumaran Thampi, the recipient of the 2017 J. C. Daniel Award, with actress Urvashi and director Balu Kiriyath as members, and C. Ajoy, Secretary of the Kerala State Chalachitra Academy, as the Member Secretary. At 80 years of age, Sharada becomes the 32nd film personality to receive the highest cinematic honor of the Kerala government.
The jury noted that Sharada demonstrated extraordinary talent as an actress and brought two National Film Awards for Best Actress to Malayalam cinema. From the 1960s through the next two decades, she immortalized the Malayalam woman on screen. With restrained and powerful expressions, she portrayed the struggles and sufferings of women of that era. She won her first National Film Award in 1968 for the film Thulabharam. She later received national recognition for Swayamvaram (1972), directed by Adoor Gopalakrishnan, and for the Telugu film Nimajjanam (1977). Through unforgettable roles in films such as Thriveni, Murappennu, Mooladhanam, and Oru Minnaminunginte Nurunguvettam, Sharada proved herself to be fully deserving of the state’s highest film honor, the jury observed.
Sharada was born as Saraswathi Devi on June 25, 1945, in Tenali village, Andhra Pradesh, to Venkateswara Rao and Satyavani Devi. She adopted the screen name “Sharada” while acting in her first Telugu film Iru Mithrulu. She made her Malayalam film debut in 1965 with Inapravukal, written by Muttathu Varkey and directed by *Kunchacko. She went on to become a favorite of Malayalam audiences through films such as Murappennu (scripted by M. T. Vasudevan Nair and directed by Vincent) and Iruttinte Athmavu (scripted by M. T. Vasudevan Nair and directed by P. Bhaskaran).
Sharada has acted in over 125 Malayalam films, including Udyogastha, Yakshi, Adimakal, Asuravithu, Koottukudumbam, Nadhi, Ennippadikal, Elippathayam, and Raappakal. She was the first Malayalam actress whose films were selected for the retrospective section of the International Film Festival of Kerala (IFFK). Her films were showcased at the 24th International Film Festival of Kerala in 2019.
