It is a small crumb of comfort for Tollywood.

The last few weeks have been particularly bad for the industry with box office collections looking very anaemic.

But yesterday's National Award announcements had some good news.

Indraganti Mohan Krishna won the Indira Gandhi Award for the best first film of a director for Grahanam and Vidyasagar walked away with best music director for his work in K Vishwanath's Swaraabhishekam.

Swaraabhishekam also won the award for best Telugu film.

And as an icing on the cake, Sanath won the best special effects award for Kodi Ramakrishna's Anji. The film stands out because of its use of graphics.

Grahanam, the story of a woman whose life is ruined by superstitious villagers, is to be released after the award. The low-budget film, based on Chalam's novel Doshagunam, stars Tanikella Bharani and Jayalalitha.

Son of well-known writers Indraganti Srikanth Sarma and Janaki Bala, the film's director Mohan Krishna has always been found of sensitive films on serious subjects.

He was naturally thrilled with the award. "I wanted to make movies based on short stories written by great Telugu writers. Grahanam was based on a short story. He hopes to breakthrough into mainstream cinema with this national recognition.

Mohan Krishna, who did his Masters of Film Art and Video at York University in Canada, likes Manirathinam among the contemporary directors while Satyajit Ray among all-time greats.

Mohan Krishna hopes the recognition would be an impetus for making many more films.

A honour for a sensitive film among rank commercial pot-boilers in Telugu is indeed good news for fans who take their movies seriously.