Asian Film Awards: Ponniyin Selvan lands 6 nominations, RRR bags 2

The nominations for the 16th Asian Film Awards, which will be held on March 12 in Hong Kong, were announced on Friday. While Mani Ratnam’s Ponniyin Selvan 1 has been nominated in six categories including best film, SS Rajamouli’s magnum opus RRR also made it to two categories–best visual effects and best sound.

Ponniyin Selvan 1 and RRR are the only two Indian films that have made it to the nominations. A tweet from Asian Film Awards read, “The press conference of the 16th Asian Film Awards has ended successfully just now! The 16th Asian Film Awards will be held at 7:30pm on 12 March (Sunday) at the Hong Kong Palace Museum. The nomination list for the 16th Asian Film Awards and the jury president were announced.”

The press conference of the 16th Asian Film Awards has ended successfully just now! The 16th Asian Film Awards will be held at 7:30pm on 12 March (Sunday) at the Hong Kong Palace Museum.
The nomination list for the 16th Asian Film Awards and the jury president were announced. pic.twitter.com/u9UUcHmzBa

— Asian Film Awards Academy (@AsianFilmAwards) January 6, 2023

Mani Ratnam’s Ponniyin Selvan 1, which grossed over ₹500 crore during its theatrical run, has been nominated in six categories – Best Film, Sreekar Prasad for Best Editing, Ravi Varman for Best Cinematography, A.R Rahman for Best Original Music, Eka Lakhani for Best Costume Design and Thota Tharani for Best Production Design.

Rajamouli’s RRR, on the other hand, has been nominated for Srinivas Mohan for Best Visual Effects and Ashwin Rajashekar for Best Sound.

Meanwhile, RRR has emerged as one of the most talked about films from India in 2022. It been on the lists of several best of the year lists from around the world. The film’s team has been campaigning for the Telugu film in different countries amid the awards season. Filmmaker Rajamouli has been attending many screenings of the Indian feature whose tickets have been reportedly sold out in minutes.

The film song Naatu Naatu is also on the Oscars shortlist in the Music (Original Song) category. This is the third major international nomination for Naatu Naatu. Recently Ram Charan and his wife Upasana were seen leaving for Golden Globes Awards in LA. RRR has been nominated in the Best Foreign Film category at the 80th Golden Globe Awards while Naatu Naatu has been nominated in the Best Original Song category.

RRR released last March in cinemas. The film focuses on the lives of two real heroes and well-known revolutionaries – Alluri Sitarama Raju and Komaram Bheem. While Ram Charan played Ram, Tarak was seen as Bheem.