Who Is Shalini Ushadevi? Writer Bags National Award For Best Screenplay For Soorari Pottru

Who Is Shalini Ushadevi? Shalini Ushadevi, a screenwriter and filmmaker, won her first National Film Award for Best Original Screenplay for the Tamil movie Soorarai Pottru, which she co-wrote with Sudha Kongara, the movie's director.

Soorarai Pottru tells the story of an air force pilot named Nedumaaran, also known as Maara (Suriya), and the challenges and lack of support he encounters while trying to realise his ambition of founding a low-cost airline.

Who Is Shalini Ushadevi?

• Modern Indian writer and director Shalini Ushadevi attended the Prague Film School. Akam, a Malayalam psychological thriller starring Fahadh Faasil, marked her debut in both feature writing and directing.
• Akam premiered at the 8th Dubai International Film Festival in December 2011. It was also screened at the Shanghai International Film Festival and International Film Festival of Kerala.
• She recently won her first National Film Award for Best Original Screenplay for the Tamil movie Soorarai Pottru. The film is her first big-budget movie and the second where she was credited as a screenplay writer.
• Captain GR Gopinath of Air Deccan served as inspiration for Soorarai Pottru, which also received five National Honors, the most of any movie this year. These awards included Best Film, Best Actor for Suriya, and Best Actress for Aparna Balamurali, the film's lead actor.
• While talking about her achievement, she says, “The award came as a pleasant surprise. All the attention, not so much! I am touched by all the support, though.”
• The film's screenplay was developed by Shalini and Sudha over roughly two years.“Sudha had already written the story when I came on board. Essentially, the film is a business tale. To turn what is a fairly dry subject into a screenplay with heart, an underdog story that could resonate with everyone required a lot of work and re-work from us. Sudha was particular about the script being airtight and had a very clear picture about it,” said Shalini while discussing the film's making.
• The screenplay was cleverly written by both of them to switch back and forth between the past and the present. She stated, “The idea was to show the struggle of an entrepreneur. To marry the two timelines seamlessly was a real challenge. For someone like me who is terrible at math, screenplays are the closest I get to making things fit mathematically and finding a balance.”
• Shalini is already hard at work on her next screenplay — a true crime series for Netflix, produced by India Today. She is also writing and directing a Hindi movie for a major production house.

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