OTTplay Awards 2023: Mahesh Narayanan adjudged Best Director for Ariyippu, second consecutive win after Malik

Malayalam filmmaker Mahesh Narayanan beat filmmakers such as Monica O My Darling’s Vasan Bala and Darling’s Jasmeet K Reen to win his second OTTplay Award

Mahesh Narayanan

Filmmaker Mahesh Narayanan, who kicked the doors of OTT open for the Malayalam audience with C U Soon and Malik during the pandemic, clinched the Best Director honour at OTTplay Awards 2023 for the Kunchacko Boban-starrer Ariyippu.

Mahesh was presented the award at this year’s edition, which was held in Mumbai on October 29. In his acceptance speech, the Take Off filmmaker said, “Thank you for the award. I am here for the second time. Only thing is the award is very heavy. It was the same weight last year, too. Thank you my producers and actors. I am very happy.”

This is Mahesh’s second OTTplay Award. In the first-ever edition of the pan-Indian Awards, the filmmaker had clinched the honour for Best Story for his Fahadh Faasil-starrer Malik, which released on Amazon Prime Video.

Ariyippu, which was released directly on Netflix last year, had its premiere at the 75th Locarno Film Festival in August 2022. The film, which was also written and co-produced by Mahesh, revolved around a struggling Malayali couple who work in a medical glove factory in Noida during the pandemic, in hopes of saving enough money to leave the country for a better life. However, after a scandalous video emerges, their relationship endures a strain, from which there could be no recovery.

Also read: Ariyippu movie review: Mahesh Narayanan’s minimal approach doesn’t mince emotions in Kunchacko Boban’s intense drama

Unlike his previous films such as Take Off and Malik, Ariyippu was more minimalistic and relied more on the relationship dynamics and the pressure that the couple faces during their predicament. The movie had also earned Mahesh this year’s Kerala State Film Award for Best Director.

OTTplay Awards 2023 saw the who’s who of Indian cinema turning up at the event at Taj Land’s End on October 29. The only pan-Indian OTT awards show in the country honoured talents across languages – Hindi, Malayalam, Tamil, Telugu, Kannada and Bangla – for their phenomenal work on OTT.

OTTplay Awards 2023 was presented by Danube Properties alongside Dabur Chyawanprash and driven by Volkswagen, with Colors Infinity being the telecast partner.

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