Some of the South Indian film industry's brightest stars such as Shruti Haasan and Chiranjeevi attended the South Indian International Movie Awards (SIIMA) on Thursday evening (June 30), 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 takes place on tonight (July 1), was dedicated to Tamil and Malayalam movies.
On Thursday night, the biggest winners of the Telugu and Kannada movie worlds were director S.S. Rajamouli's mythological epic Baahubali: The Beginning and director Kortala Siva's Srimathandu, 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 Shruti Haasan in Srimathandu.
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, which saw 42 awards given out in total.
Held in Singapore for the first time, this was the fifth edition of the awards that started in 2012. It has been held twice before in Dubai, as well as in Sharjah, United Arab Emirates, and Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
Playback singer Usha Uthup sang a tribute of biggest hits by singer S. Janaki, who was also given a Lifetime Achievement Award.
Actress Sayyeshaa Saigal performed a tribute, dancing and lip-synching to songs from movies by Telugu actor Chiranjeevi, who won a Mega Star award for having made his 150th film, Kathilantodu.
There were also dance performances by actresses Pragya Jaiswal, Rakul Preet Singh, Urvashi Rautela, and Pranitha Subhash.
Day two of the awards ceremony will see actors Jayam Ravi and Hansika Motwani in attendance, along with a performance by wunderkind music composer Anirudh Ravichander.
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 Ranavikrama (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 Negative Role: Rana Daggubati for Baahubali (Telugu) and Saikumar for RangiTaranga (Kannada).
The Lifetime Achievement Award: S. Janaki
The South Sensation of the Year: Sudheer Babu
Correction: An earlier version of the story stated that Chiranjeevi was Malayalee. This is incorrect. He is Telugu. We are sorry for the error.
