TIRUPATI: The Chennai-based Gollapudi Srinivas Memorial Foundation has announced its national award for the year 2005 to Indraganti Mohanakrishna for his Telugu film Grahanam.

The award was instituted by noted film writer and actor Gollapudi Maruthi Rao in memory of his son G. Srinivas who died in an accident while directing his maiden film, and is hence given to film directors for excellence in their debut venture.

This is the ninth consecutive year that the foundation is giving away the award that carries a cash prize of Rs. 1.5 lakhs and a memento.

Mr. Mohanakrishna, a journalist-turned-documentary filmmaker, was chosen from 15 nominations, including films made in Hindi, Malayalam, Bengali, Tamil and English, by a panel of film critics and personalities like Gowri Ramnarayan, Singeetam Srinivasa Rao and Kalyana Raman.

"The film is an adaptation of Doshagunam, a literary work by noted writer Chalam, that explores the complex ways in which female sexuality is controlled in a patriarchal society. In this homogenous narration, the sensitivities of the characters were brilliantly maintained all through the film," Mr. Maruti Rao said in a release, appreciating the director's care for nuances in shot taking and screenplay.

The previous recipients of the award included Leslie Carvalho (English), Shyama Prasad (Malayalam), Manju Borah (Assamese), Subrata Sen (Bengali), Janaki Viswanathan (Tamil), Anup Kurian (English) and Shonali Bose (Bengali). The award would be given on August 12 in Chennai - the day Srinivas passed away, the release added.

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