C Prem Kumar, the director of ’96’, has been bestowed with the prestigious Gollapudi Srinivas award for best debut film. Calling it a ‘path breaking film for patriarchal Indian cinema’, the committee announced the award recently in Chennai, and reportedly, Prem Kumar is the first Tamil filmmaker to win this award in nearly 18 years.
Having begun his career as a cinematographer, Prem Kumar went on to work on films like Pasanga, Naduvula Konjam Pakkatha Kaanom to name a few, before he drew from some of his real life experiences to pen the story of ’96’ and also directing it. The film, starring Vijay Sethupathi and Trisha, went on to become a huge hit and it was one of the most talked about Tamil films of 2018.
Meanwhile, the film is going to be remade in Telugu with Sharwanand and Samantha in lead roles. Dil Raju is going to produce the remake, and Prem Kumar will himself direct the remake.