After the National Awards were announced recently, many were surprised to see Blessy’s survival drama Aadujeevitham – The Goat Life not make the cut.
Prithviraj Sukumaran, who received acclaim for his performance as Najeeb, was also snubbed. After receiving a People’s Choice Award for his performance in the film at the BOTIM Onamamangam 2025 in Sharjah, UAE, Prithviraj remarked on how films are not made for juries.
Prithviraj Sukumaran on people liking Aadujeevitham
After Prithviraj won the People’s Choice Award, he seemed to address Aadujeevitham getting snubbed at the National Awards when he said, “A film is not made for ten people to sit and grade on it or for a jury to judge. Nor is it created for international festivals, though those are certainly valuable.”
He added that Aadujeevitham had already received an ‘award’ from the audience thanks to the adulation it received: “At the end of the day, movies are made for the audience-for the people who buy tickets, come to theatres, and enjoy the experience. In that sense, viewers have already given Aadujeevitham its biggest award. For that, I am grateful.”
At the recently held SIIMA 2025, too, Prithviraj won Best Actor for his performance in the film.
About Aadujeevitham – The Goat Life
Aadujeevitham is a survival film written, directed, and co-produced by Blessy. It is an adaptation of Benyamin’s 2008 best-selling Malayalam novel, which is loosely based on the real-life instance of a Malayali labourer being stuck in Saudi Arabia. The film went through development hell only to go on floors in 2018.
In 2020, Prithviraj and the team were even stuck in Jordan due to COVID-19 restrictions. The Indian government evacuated them. Eventually, the film was released in theatres in March 2024, and it made ₹157.35 crore worldwide, becoming one of Malayalam’s highest-grossing films.
Prithviraj was last seen in L2 Empuraan, which he also directed, and the Netflix film Sarzameen. He will soon star in SSMB 29, Vilayath Buddha and Daayra.