On Friday, August 16, the 70th National Film Awards were announced for the Indian films that have been certified by the Central Board of Film Certification in 2022. Nithya Menen and Manasi Parekh were jointly announced as the Best Actress winners. Nithya Menen has been honoured for her brilliant performance as Shobhana in the Tamil romantic comedy drama Thiruchitrambalam.
It is her first National Film Award. Nithya has won the hearts of the audiences and critics with her impactful and sincere performances in Malayalam, Tamil, and Telugu hits such as Ustad Hotel, Mersal, 24, and Kanchana 2 among others. The actress initially wanted to become a journalist.
Speaking to The Quint in 2022, Nithya shared, "I remember when I wanted to study journalism I couldn't believe the kind of opposition I was met with. My family came and tried to counsel me as if I was doing something wrong. It takes a lot of energy to fight against it.
With most people of the previous generation, they are so afraid of change." The actress made her Bollywood debut in the 2019 drama Mission Mangal. The Jagan Shakti directorial was based on the real-life scientists at Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) who contributed to the India's first mission to Mars, unofficially known as Mangalyaan.
Nithya Menen played the satellite engineer Varsha Pillai and shared the screen space with Akshay Kumar , who played the mission director Rakesh Dhawan. Mission Mangal also starred Taapsee Pannu, Vidya Balan, Sonakshi Sin.