Karunanithi presents Awards to Rajini and Kamal

By: Settu Shankar
Wednesday, October 17, 2007

It was a star studded event at the Centenary Hall of Madras University Auditorium on Tuesday evening. The who is who of Tamil cinema were presented with the State Government awards, for the years 2005 and 2006, with almost all the big names including 'superstar' Rajinikanth and Kamal Hassan receiving Best Actor awards for the respective years.

Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M. Karunanidhi gave away the awards on yesterday evening.

Rajnikanth was selected Best Actor for 2005 for his portrayal as a psychiatrist dealing with the leading lady suffering from split personality. Actor Kamal Hassan bagged the award for 2006, for his movie "Vettaiyaadu Vilaiyaadu," where he tracks down two psycho serial killers.

The actors were presented with gold medals and certificates. Similarly, actors Surya and Vijay were also honoured with awards for their performance in "Gajini", and "Thiruppachi", respectively.

Jyothika, for her scintillating performance as a person suffering from split personality, in 'Chandramukhi' bagged the Best Actress award for 2005 while Priya Mani, for her rustic portrayal of a village girl in the block buster 'Paruthiveeran' bagged the award for 2006.

Jyothika's husband Surya received the award on her behalf.

Other awardees include Vivek and Vadivelu (Best Comedian 2005 and 2006 respectively), Prakash Raj (Best Villain 2005) Shankar (Best Director 2005, for Anniyan) actor Ajith Kumar (MGR Award) and Vikram (Nadikar Thilagam Sivaji Award).

Chief Guest of the evening, Governor Surjit Singh Barnala rued the piracy in cinema field and he said that it causes huge losses to producers.

Earlier, cultural programmes were performed by leading artists including Namitha, Nila, Malavika, Vadivelu and Vivek.