THRISSUR l sunday l july 19, 2026 l `12.00 l PAGES 24 l city EDITION Mammootty bags his fourth Nat’l Best actor award for Bramayugam The megastar shared the honour with Kartik Aryan (Chandu Champion). Yami Gautam Dhar named best actress for her role in Article 370 top honour for Vaikom Vijayalakshmi Article 370 named best feature film Other winners from Malayalam include Vaikom Vijayalakshmi, the best female playback singer, for ‘Angu Vaana Konilu’ from ARM. Rahul Sadasivan’s period folk horror film, Bramayugam, also won its cinematographer, Shehnad Jalal, the National Award. Fasil Muhammed’s Feminichi Fathima bagged the award for the best Malayalam film. P4 ■ ■ Bollywood movie Article 370, based on the events surrounding the abrogation of this section of the Constitution in 2019, adjudged the best feature film at 72nd National Film Awards Rajkumar Periasamy named best director for Amaran, the Tamil film based on life of Ashok Chakra awardee Major Mukund Varadarajan. 2024 Films certified by CBFC in 2024 were considered for the awards CHENNAI ■ MADURAI ■ VIJAYAWADA ■ BENGALURU ■ KOCHI ■ HYDERABAD ■ VISAKHAPATNAM ■ COIMBATORE ■ KOZHIKODE ■ THIRUVANANTHAPURAM ■ BELAGAVI ■ BHUBANESWAR ■ SHIVAMOgGA ■ MANGALURU ■ TIRUPATI ■ TIRUCHY ■ TIRUNELVELI ■ SAMBALPUR ■ HUBBALLI ■ DHARMAPURI ■ KOTTAYAM ■ KANNUR ■ VILLUPURAM ■ KOLLAM ■ TADEPALLIGUDEM ■ NAGAPATTINAM ■ THRISSUR ■ KALABURAGI Dream start to Birla OKs Sena merger, pvt space ops new seats for rebel TMC S i d d h a r d h a G at t i m i @ Hyderabad WC and CO set final Messi for spain test A Lionel Messi-inspired Argentina, holders, will take on 2010 champions in the summit clash in NY/NJ on Sunday | P11 WITH THIS ISSUE PLUS 12 P AGES Vikram-1 Test Flight-1, India’s first private orbital rocket, lifts off from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre, in Sriharikota on Saturday | PTI At 12.05 pm on Saturday, seven-storey Sk yroot’s Vikram-1 roared into the skies from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre, Sriharikota, not just carrying a liftoff weight of 45,000 kg but also the aspirations of India’s fast-growing private space sector. Eighteen minutes later, after an almost flawless sequence of events, Vikram-1 successfully entered a 450km Low Earth Orbit at 12.23 pm, making Skyroot the first Indian private firm to place a rocket into orbit and scripting a defining moment in the country’s commercial space journey, making India the third country with private orbital launch capabilities after the US and China. The rocket deployed Skyroot’s SCOPE satellite and Grahaa Space’s SOLARAS CubeSat into the Low Earth orbit. The launch vehicle also deployed a micro-art payload, an 18-karat gold rocket and a handwritten postcard from PM Narendra Modi bearing the message “Vande Mataram”. P r e e t h a n a i r @ New Delhi IN a significant decision ahead of the Monsoon Session of Parliament, Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla on Saturday approved the merger of six Shiv Sena (UBT) MPs with the Eknath Shinde-led Shiv Sena, while also allowing 20 rebel Trinamool Congress (TMC) MPs to sit separately in the Lok Sabha, even as their plea for formal recognition as members of the Nationalist Citizens Party of India (NCPI) remains pending. The decision, taken just two days before the Parliament session, is expected to reshape the Opposition’s floor strength and seating arrangement in the House. Official sources said the approval of the merger has JPC meet cancelled A meeting of a Joint Parliamentary Committee examining the Viksit Bharat Shiksha Adhishthan Bill, scheduled for Monday has been cancelled. This came a day after the JPC meet on removal of PMs and CMs was deferred increased the strength of the Shinde-led Shiv Sena in the Lok Sabha from seven to 13 MPs. The Speaker accepted the claim of the six MPs that they had merged with the recognised Shiv Sena headed by Maharashtra Deputy CM Eknath Shinde after examining constitutional provisions, parliamentary precedents and legal opinion. For the TMC dissidents, seats have been allotted away from the Mamata Banerjee-led bloc, though their bid for NCPI status is still under examination by the Speaker, a source in the know said. The rebels are expected to attend Sunday’s all-party meeting as Parliamentary Affairs Minister Kiren Rijiju wrote to Sudip Bandyopadhyay and Kakoli Ghosh Dastidar inviting them, while Bandyopadhyay separately called on PM Narendra Modi at his residence on Saturday . Meanwhile, the Speaker is also expected to approve a request from the DMK for separate seating arrangements after the Congress ended its long standing alliance with it and aligned with Chief Minister Vijay’s TVK in Tamil Nadu. EXPRESS READ KSEB gets nod to buy addl power Leaders call for end to KSU-CM rift Kochi: In a big relief to the KSEB, which has been forced to impose power regulation during peak hours due to a shortage of 500 MW, the state power regulatory commission has approved the purchase of 200 MW power for one year at the rate of I5.96 per unit. P5 Kottayam: Senior Congress leader K C Venugopal and Home Minister Ramesh Chennithala sought to downplay the growing friction between KSU and CM V D Satheesan over appointment of government pleaders, urging that the issue be resolved within the party. P5 Wangchuk shifted to Safdarjung Hospital N i t i n R a w at @ New Delhi CLIMATE activist Sonam Wangchuk was taken to Safdarjung Hospital by Delhi Police in an early morning clampdown on Saturday after 20 days of hunger strike at Jantar Mantar, where he Sonam Wangchuk was protesting against exam paper being evicted from leaks and demanding the resignation of Jantar Mantar | PTI Education Minister Dhar mendra Pradhan. Police in plain clothes evicted Wangchuk from the protest site to the hospital, citing directions of the Delhi HC and his deteriorating health condition. Safdarjung Hospital said Wangchuk was admitted at 7.40 am. A health bulletin issued by the hospital mentioned that Wangchuk’s condition warrants immediate medical intervention.