The Tamil Nadu government on Sunday presented the State Film awards, for films and television shows released between 2009 and 2014, at the Kalaivanar Arangam in Chennai.
HR&CE Minister P.K. Sekarbabu, Health Minister Ma. Subramanian, Information and Publicity Minister M.P. Saminathan and Chennai Mayor Priya Rajan participated in the ceremony. The awards were presented for categories such as Best Picture, Best Actor, Best Actress, Best Villain, Best Comedian, Best Character Artist (Male), Best Character Artist (Female), Best Director, Best Scriptwriter and Best Dialogue Writer.
Awards were announced for 314 film and television personalities, including Vikram (for Raavanan), actor Prasanna (for Achchamundu Achchamundu), actor and director Samuthirakani (for Easan), director Pandiraj (for Pasanga). Several high-profile actors including Sivakarthikeyan, Arya and Samantha did not attend the ceremony. Around 230 awardees were present.
Mr. Saminathan said Chief Minister M.K. Stalin had directed that the State Film Awards should be given every year without delay. “Chief Minister kept insisting that the awards be presented immediately when situation and circumstances were normal,” he said.
Addressing the ceremony, Mr. Sekarbabu said, “When I asked why there was such a delay in announcing the awards, I was told that in the past [during the erstwhile AIADMK regime], the film industry was ignored. So, Chief Minister M.K. Stalin had given a direction to present the awards swiftly. Of the 314 awardees, some have passed away. The film awards were stopped for 14 years in total. Minister Saminathan will take steps to present the awards for the next eight years soon.”
Mr. Subramanian said, “When Perarignar Anna [Annadurai] became the Chief Minister in 1967, the film awards were instituted. In 1968, MGR received the best actor for Kudiyirundha Kovil, and Sivaji Ganesan won the best actor award for Deiva Magan in 1969. Later, Chief Minister Kalaignar [Karunanidhi] decided to exempt films with Tamil titles from entertainment tax, ensuring that many non-Tamil titles were changed to Tamil names. The present Chief Minister has also given a lot of concessions for the Tamil film industry,” he said.
Ms. Priya Rajan said the Greater Chennai Corporation was extending maximum cooperation to the film industry by facilitating the shooting of films. The awards were announced in 2017 by a jury, led by former judge Justice A. Raman who chose the winners from numerous entries each year. The year 2014 saw the maximum number of film entries (59).
