Actress Manasi Parekh won the National Film Award for Best Actress for the Gujarati film ‘Kutch Express’. She shared the award with South actress Nithya Menon. In an exclusive interview with India Today.in, she spoke about how overwhelmed she is by the honour. The actress also spoke about what it means when regional films receive such honours.

Manasi Parekh said that she has been crying ever since she received the Best Actress award. “I have been getting calls and messages non-stop and I have been crying for the last one and a half hour. Now I am fine. My makeup has completely disappeared. It is unbelievable because, first of all, I have received the Best Actress award and I am sharing it with Nithya Menen, who is another great regional actress. Last year the award was shared by Alia Bhatt and Kriti Sanon,” she told us.

She further added, “This year two regional actresses are winning this award. It is a big thing. The best part is that this film has been produced by me and my husband (Parthiv Gohil). It takes it to a whole different level.”

Manasi reminisced about the shooting of ‘Kutch Express’. She said, “We were working very hard and there was always a feeling that this film was going to be something magical. And even Ratna Pathak Shah, who is an experienced artiste, came to me after five days of shooting and said, ‘Manasi, I am very proud and happy that this is my first Gujarati film. I am very proud to work with you and your husband.’ We all felt that this was a very special film. Now, the National Award has validated it. But we were always very proud of this film.”

Regional cinema has always been considered a distant relative. We asked Manasi how she feels when regional cinema is honoured at the national level. She said, “It is great because I want regional cinema to be distributed across the country and not just in the regions and languages ​​that are specific to it. For example, I wanted ‘Kutch Express’ to be released across the country and not just in Gujarat and Mumbai. But because of the high cost of distribution, a Gujarati producer cannot take that decision because it doesn’t work that way.”

“But the way Malayalam films are now releasing in Mumbai, I am hoping that any good regional film gets a national release. That is what I want as a producer. This kind of recognition helps everyone; not just me, but the entire industry. Regional cinema is the way forward because that is where the stories, the characters and the complexities are.”

Manasi concluded, “Parthiv (Patel) and I were crying. We know how hard we worked. He was behind the scenes in the film because he was producing it, but I was also acting in it. Just the fact that both of us are sharing something special as husband and wife and co-producers is a feeling I had when I gave birth to my daughter. I was as overwhelmed then as I am now.”

Directed by Viral Shah, “Kutch Express” also stars Ratna Pathak Shah, Dharmendra Gohil, Darsheel Safary and Viraf Patel in pivotal roles.