Producer Nidhi Parmar Hiranandani Discusses Srikanth's National Award Win

Nidhi Parmar Hiranandani attended the 72nd National Film Awards ceremony following the success of Srikanth (2024), which won the Best Hindi Feature Film award. Produced by Chalk N Cheese Films and T-Series, the film stars Rajkummar Rao and was directed by Tushar Hiranandani.

Reflecting on the announcement, Nidhi shared that she and Tushar were in Goa when they learned the news. After confirming the win via a live stream because of poor mobile network, they received numerous congratulatory calls. Addressing the perception around awards, Nidhi stated that the film did not involve lobbying, noting that the National Award jury watched the film, liked it, and awarded them.

The real-life subject of the film, Srikanth Bolla, reacted to the win by recalling that he had predicted a National Award win from the time the final script was narrated to him. The film, which released on May 10, 2024, benefited from a favourable release window with little major competition for nearly three weeks.

Discussing the production process, Nidhi credited director Tushar Hiranandani for being mindful of the budget. While the cost of production was Rs. 20 crores, Nidhi's brief to cinematographer Pratham Mehta was to make every shot look like a Rs. 50 crore film.

Nidhi also spoke about her journey into the film industry, recounting how watching Kuch Kuch Hota Hai (1998) inspired her to leave her studies in Chandigarh and move to Mumbai, eventually working at Karan Johar's Dharma Productions.