Daijiworld Media Network – Mangaluru

Mangaluru, Jul 21: National Award-winning actress Rupashree Vorkady, a native of Mangaluru, expressed immense happiness after receiving the National Film Award for best supporting actress for her performance in the Kannada film Mithya, saying the recognition came as a complete surprise and marked a major milestone in her career.

Addressing a press conference at the Mangaluru Press Club on along with Mithya director Sumanth Bhat and child actor Atish, who also won a National Award for his role in the film, Rupashree said the honour brought immense joy after years of ups and downs in her professional journey.

Sharing her artistic journey spanning over two and a half decades, Rupashree said she has performed in more than 700 Kannada and Tulu plays, staging over 4,000 performances. She began her professional theatre career with director Vijay Kumar Kodialbail's play Samsarada Circus and later acted with several theatre groups. She also received theatre training under Christopher Ninasam and Vidhu Uchchil Rangayana.

Highlighting her achievements, Rupashree said she had earlier won the Red FM Tulu Film Award for best supporting actress in 2017 and 2025, besides receiving the Best Supporting Actress and Versatile Actor awards three consecutive times at the CFA Awards organised by Sandhiss Company. She has acted in over 85 films in Tulu, Kannada, Konkani, Beary and Arebhashe languages.

She noted that the film Byari, in which she acted, won the National Award (Swarna Kamal), while GT received a National Award and Triple Talaq won a State Award.

Child actor Atish, who won the National Award for Best Child Artist for Mithya, said receiving the honour had fulfilled one of his biggest dreams. He added that he had almost given up hope of winning a National Award as a child actor before the recognition finally came through Mithya.

Director Sumanth Bhat credited actor Rakshit Shetty for encouraging him to enter the film industry. He said the two had worked together on several documentaries while employed at a software company during 2008-09. After Rakshit Shetty established himself as a leading actor, he encouraged Sumanth to pursue filmmaking, saying the industry needed talented people like him.

Sumanth said he entered the film industry during 2020-21 and narrated the story of Mithya to Rakshit Shetty, who agreed to back the project and encouraged him to focus on making the film rather than worrying about commercial returns. He added that the team had never imagined the film would go on to win three National Film Awards, making the achievement even more special.