The second night of the South Indian International Movie Awards was a rollicking show that stretched into the early hours of the morning with high-energy performances by some of the brightest stars in the South Indian film industry.
The second part of the awards, held on Friday at the Suntec Singapore Convention and Exhibition Centre, honoured the best in the Tamil and Malayalam film industries. The first part on Thursday recognised winners from the Telugu and Kannada film industries.
Actress Nayanthara swept the Best Actress award for both the Tamil and Malayalam film categories. She won for her roles in the Tamil comedy Naanum Rowdydhaan and the Malayalam film Bhaskar The Rascal.
She drew cheers from the 4,000-strong audience when she requested to receive her Best Actress (Tamil) award from the film's director Vignesh Shivan - who won Best Director (Tamil) - and they shared a hug on stage. She is said to be romantically linked to him.
The film Naanum Rowdydhaan also bagged Best Comedian, Best Music Director and Best Playback Singer (Male), making it the big winner for Tamil films.
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MAJOR WINNERS
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Best Film
• Thani Oruvan (Tamil)
• Premam (Malayalam)
Best Actor
• Vikram for I (Tamil)
• Prithviraj for Ennu Ninte Moideen (Malayalam)
Best Actress
• Nayanthara for Naanum Rowdydhaan (Tamil); and
• Bhaskar The Rascal (Malayalam)
Best Director
• Vignesh Shivan for Naanum Rowdydhaan (Tamil)
• Alphonse Puthren for Premam (Malayalam)
Best Music Director
• Anirudh Ravichander for Naanum Rowdydhaan (Tamil)
• Rajesh Murugesan for Premam (Malayalam)
Lifetime Achievement Award
Panchu Arunachalam
The film that received the most awards, however, was the coming-of-age Malayalam film Premam, which bagged six awards, including Best Director, Best Actor (Critics' Choice) and the coveted Best Film award.
A total of 36 awards were given out on Friday and the ceremony ran on until 1.45am yesterday.
This led many award recipients to begin their acceptance speeches with "Good morning", and the Best Actor (Tamil) winner Vikram to jokingly dedicate his award "to everyone here for staying so late".
The ceremony included dances performed by actresses Vedhika, Hansika Motwani and Huma Qureshi to hit Tamil and Malayalam songs and a live set by composer-music director Anirudh Ravichander.
This was the fifth edition of the awards that started in 2012. It was held twice in Dubai, as well as in Sharjah in the United Arab Emirates and in Kuala Lumpur.
This was the award's first time in Singapore and it was presented by Singapore Press Holdings' Tamil-language publications Tamil Murasu and tabla! and events company De Ideaz.
