Versatile actor and film producer Manasi Parekh recently won the National Film Award for Best Actress. She was honoured for her role in the Gujarati film ‘Kutch Express’ (2023). Manasi admits that the win only sunk in while she was walking on stage at the Vigyan Bhawan. She speaks exclusively to mid-day.com about her journey to secure not one but three National Film Awards after 20 years in showbiz. 

Manasi Parekh on crying after winning National Film Award

Manasi Parekh was in tears as she walked up on stage wearing a bespoke outfit made using Bandhani, Patola, and Ajrakh - all being traditional weaves from Gujarat. Recalling her National Award-winning moment, she says, “It was just the sense of, you`ve started from nothing, you`ve done it on your own and you`ve done it the way you wanted it.  And then that gets this kind of validation. It`s just another feeling. I did not want to cry.  But there are moments in your life that kind of overwhelm you, and for me, tears are my reaction to it. I`m quite sensitive and emotional.”