SOUTH INDIAN INTERNATIONAL MOVIE AWARDS

Stars light up awards show

Shruti Haasan and Chiranjeevi among celebrities in Singapore as event is held here for the first time

Actress Shruti Haasan (left) and actor Chiranjeevi (above) were among the stars at the South Indian International Movie Awards in Singapore.
Actress Shruti Haasan (above) and actor Chiranjeevi were among the stars at the South Indian International Movie Awards in Singapore. PHOTOS: TAMIL MURASU
Actress Shruti Haasan (left) and actor Chiranjeevi (above) were among the stars at the South Indian International Movie Awards in Singapore.
Actress Shruti Haasan and actor Chiranjeevi (above) were among the stars at the South Indian International Movie Awards in Singapore.

Some of the South Indian film industry's brightest stars, such as Shruti Haasan and Chiranjeevi, attended the South Indian International Movie Awards on Thursday evening, the first time the event was held in Singapore.

Some 3,000 fans flocked to the Suntec Singapore Convention & Exhibition Centre for the first night of the awards show honouring the Telugu and Kannada film industries. The second part of the event, which took place last night, was dedicated to Tamil and Malayalam movies.

On Thursday night, the biggest winners of the Telugu and Kannada movie worlds were S.S. Rajamouli's mythological epic Baahubali: The Beginning and Koratala Siva's Srimanthudu, a drama about a millionaire who adopts an entire village. Each garnered six awards, including the coveted Best Film award for Baahubali and Best Actress for Haasan in Srimanthudu.

Kannada mystery thriller RangiTaranga bagged four awards: Best Actor in a Negative Role, Best Debutant Director, Best Lyricist and Best Playback Singer (female).

Telugu actress Lakshmi Manchu and comedian Ali Basha hosted the ceremony. A total of 42 awards were given out.

  • MAJOR WINNERS

  • Best Movie: S.S. Rajamouli's Baahubali: The Beginning (Telugu) and Giriraj's Mythri (Kannada)

    Best Actor: Mahesh Babu for Srimanthudu (Telugu) and Puneeth Rajkumar for Rana Vikrama (Kannada)

    Best Actress: Shruti Haasan for Srimanthudu (Telugu) and Rachita Ram for Ranna (Kannada)

    Best Director: S.S. Rajamouli for Baahubali (Telugu) and Upendra for Uppi 2 (Kannada)

    Best Actor in a Negative Role: Rana Daggubati for Baahubali (Telugu) and Saikumar for RangiTaranga (Kannada)

    Lifetime Achievement Award: S. Janaki

    South Sensation of the Year: Sudheer Babu

This was the fifth edition of the awards that started in 2012. It has been held twice in Dubai, as well as in Sharjah in the United Arab Emirates and in Kuala Lumpur.

Playback singer Usha Uthup sang a tribute of the biggest hits by singer S. Janaki, who was given a Lifetime Achievement Award.

Actress Sayyeshaa Saigal performed a tribute, dancing and lip-synching to songs from movies by Malayalam actor Chiranjeevi, who won a Mega Star award for having made his 150th film, Kathilantodu. The 60-year-old has been in films since 1979.

There were also dance performances by actresses Pragya Jaiswal, Rakul Preet Singh, Urvashi Rautela and Pranitha Subhash.

Actors Jayam Ravi and Hansika Motwani were in attendance on day two of the awards ceremony, and there was a performance by wunderkind music composer Anirudh Ravichander.

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A version of this article appeared in the print edition of The Straits Times on July 02, 2016, with the headline Stars light up awards show. Subscribe