Heartfelt message by writer of 'Mary Kom' after 62nd National Film Awards

Mumbai: The crew of ‘Mary Kom’, a sports biopic on Indian female boxer Mary Kom, is elated with the movie's only win at the 62nd National Film Awards.

The Priyanka Chopra-starrer film was named the best popular film providing wholesome entertainment. Film's screenwriter Saiwyn Quadras couldn’t contain his excitement and posted a heartfelt message on the social media. 

“4 years since the journey began and still it has brought nothing but joy. I started writing?#MaryKom in April 2011. Most of my friends didn’t know about her and a few people who I told that I was working on a real-life woman boxer’s story asked how is this an entertaining film?

I thought of writing this story when the London Olympic Woman boxing qualifiers were a year away, the Olympics and Mary Kom’s eventual bronze medal victory was a year and a half away. Omung Kumar too was initially surprised that India had a woman boxer who was a 5-time world-boxing champion but then decided that this was going to be his first film as a director.

A first time film writer, a first time director and a story about a northeastern Manipuri Boxer and a woman at that – odds stacked against us.

CUT TO September 5th 2014 the film has done great business at the box-office, being at the top of the box-office collections for a woman-hero subject, highest weekend collections at the box-office for woman-hero subject, mostly positive reviews from critics and the audience alike, many nominations and great wins during the award season and now being awarded as the National Award for Best Film Providing Wholesome Entertainment – not many would have bet their money on us 4 years ago.

4 years make a leap year and personally it has been a great leap. The journey has just begun and where one dream ends another one begins; so moving on from dream to dream and as excited as I was when I began writing #MaryKom. - Saiwyn Quadras, writer Mary Kom,” he wrote.

Released last September, the Manipur-set drama also starred Darshan Kumaar and Sunil Thapa in prominent roles.