KUALA LUMPUR: Homemade Tamil film Pulanaivu has done Malaysia proud winning Best Crime Thriller Feature Film at the Toronto Tamil Film Festival 2020 (TTFF 2020).
Written and directed by Shalini Balasundaram and Sathish Natarajan, the action-packed mystery-romance film, released last November, stars singer-actress Datin Seri Shaila V.
Pulanaivu, which means "intelligence", focuses on tough policewoman (Shaila) who goes in pursuit of a killer at a college.
In a recent Instagram post announcing her film's victory at TTFF 2020, Shaila congratulated its cast and crew.
Thrilled that it won international recognition, she expressed her gratitude for being part of a world class endeavour which was fully Malaysian.
"It's amazing to see our movie being watched and awarded abroad.
"It marks the hard work and uniqueness that this crime thriller carries," she said.
Shaila hopes that more local Tamil films will make it internationally and receive recognition in international film awards.
"This award is very special to me as we were selected from the list of many great Tamil films from all over the world.
"Kudos to directors Shalini, Sathish and the cast and crew of Pulanaivu," she added.
Among the judges of the festival were well-known filmmakers from India such as award-winning director Vetri Maaran and composer, actor and producer GV Prakash.
Pulanaivu also bagged two awards at the 11th Norway Tamil Film Festival in February.
The film was awarded Best Actress for Shaila and Best Screenplay for Shalini and Sathish.
However, due to the Covid-19 pandemic, both award ceremonies were postponed to a later date.