Thiruvananthapuram, Jul 22 (IANS): Aparna Balamurali stole the show at the 68th National film awards, walking away with the best actress award for her stellar role in Tamil film "Soorarai Pottru", directed by Sudha Kongara.

The actress was shooting at Pollachi when the news came and her first reaction was she was under tension at the presence of a huge media contingent expecting her victory.

"I was worried if your trip will be wasted. Anyway it did not happen and I am just overwhelmed by this huge award. I owe this award to the director of the film, Sudha who was strongly behind me and supported me at every moment," said Aparna.

"This film was released during the Covid period and we all really missed a proper theatre release. But now with this, I feel really excited and elated and just cannot express my emotions and feelings," she said.

The 26-year-old Aparna, an architect who hails from Trissur, started acting at the age of 18 with the Malayalam film "Yathra Thudarunnu" (2013).

In 2015, "Oru Second Class Yathra" was released and she rose to fame with "Maheshinte Prathikaaram" in 2016.

She also starred in comedy "Oru Muthassi Gada" (2016).

She made her Tamil debut in "8 Thottakkal" (2017) and took her career soaring with "Sunday Holiday" (2017) and "Thrissivaperoor Kliptham" (2017).

Besides this, she also pursued her career in music and gave songs like "Mounangal Mindumoree", "Thennal Nilavinte", and "Thanthane".