Today is Balu Mahendra’s birthday. And Vetri Maaran, a student from the ace filmmaker’s school, has dedicated the National Award he won for ‘Aadukalam’ on Thursday to his mentor.

‘Aadukalam’ won the maximum trophies, including the best director and best original screenplay awards for Vetri Maaran, best actor for Dhanush, best editing for T E Kishore and best choreography for Dinesh Kumar.

Vetri Maaran says, “This is not an award for me, but for my entire team. I can take only one per cent credit for it. And I dedicate it to Balu Mahendra. It is the best birthday gift I could give to my mentor.”

Saranya Ponvannan, who won the National Award for best female actor for her role in ‘Thenmerku Paruvakaatru’, said, “All those who saw the movie said I will get an award. There words have come true.”

‘Thenmerku Paruvakaatru’ also got Vairamuthu the best lyricist award and was named the best Tamil film. Its director Seenu Ramasamy said the honour was a triumph of realistic cinema.