Sirigandha Award for film personalities

Kasthuri Channel which is just five months old has already strengthened its base by offering variety of programme content has now decided to strengthen its brand value by recognising best of the talents in the Kannada film industry.

Ms. Anitha Kumaraswamy, Managing Director of the Kasthuri Channel announced this decision in a press conference on Thursday and said this new development will define the future course of action by the channel in strengthening its relations with the Kannada film industry.

"We have decided to take 2007 as a base year and wants people to identify the best of talents that emerged in the year. We have named the awards as Sirigandha award. To strengthen the brand value of the award we are associating with Saimira Company. Airtel will be our main sponsor and presenting this award. We will be sharing information with the media once everything is finalised' said Anitha.

Mr. Ajay Ramanujam, CEO of Kasthuri Channel said that they have fixed three parameters to determine the winner of the awards which include the number of direct entries to the channel, SMS entries and the decision of the Jury. The Jury includes veteran journalist P.G. Srinivasa Murthy. Ramanujam said that the Karnataka television industry viewer ship has been raising over the last two years and now more than 58 percent of the television households in the state are watching the Kannada programmes, which is substantial considering that the figure was hovering around 30 to 40 percent in the past decade. He also added that 2007 has been a turning point in the history of Kannada film industry and it would be appropriate to recognise the popular artists and technicians who have contributed to the positive changes that have happened in the Kannada film industry.

The Senior officials of Saimira expressed their happiness over associating with Kasthuri channel and said that the convergence is a Key word which paves way for progress.

Altogether there are 18 awards like Best Film, Best Director, Best Actor in Lead, Best Actress In Lead Role, Best Actor in supporting Role, Best Actress in Supporting Role, Best actor in villan role, best comedy role, best debut actor, best debut actress, best director of cinematography, best editor, best music director, best lyricist, best male singer, best female singer, best dialogue writer, best choreographer.

Apart from this there are Saptaswara award for the seven music directors, Snehajeevi award to Dr. Vishnuvardhan, Ambarish, Srinath and Ravichandran. Dr Rajkumar Trinetra award to his sons Shivaraj Kumar, Raghavendra Rajkumar and Puneet Rajkumar