TRIVANDRUM, 24 July 2005 — Shyamaprasad’s Akale, an adaptation of Tennessee Williams play Glass Menagerie, bagged six top Kerala film awards announced here yesterday.
It won the awards for best film, best director (Shyamaprasad), best actress (Geetu Mohandas), best supporting actress (Sheela), best cinematographer (S. Kumar) and best art director (Raja Unnithan).
Kamal’s Perumazhakkalam, woven around a real incident of a Kerala housewife pardoning the accidental killer of her husband in the Gulf, won five awards. Leading filmmaker T.V. Chandran’s Kadhavaseshan, produced by its lead actor Dileep, is the second best film. Chandran, who was also adjudged the best screenplay writer for the film, refused to comment on the awards.
Superstar Mammootty, the four-time national award winner, won his sixth state award for the best male actor for his roles in Kazhcha, Black and Vesham.
“I’m extremely happy. I feel like having won three awards at a time since the jury was impressed by my performance in all the three films,” the multilingual star said.
Mohandas (Akale, Oridam) shared the best female actress award with Kavya Madhavan (Perumazhakkalam).
The awards were announced here by Cultural Affairs Minister A.P. Anil Kumar in the presence of the jury headed by Sreekumaran Thampi. Chief Minister Oommen Chandy will distribute the awards at a later date, he said.
Lalu Alex won the award for the best male supporting actor for his role in Manjupoloru Penkutty while yesteryear heroin Sheela won the award in the female category for her role in Akale. It was only a week back she won the same title at the national level while the film was adjudged best in Malayalam language.
Blessy’s debut Kazcha, which had already brought him many accolades, is the most popular film with artistic appeal. His first independent film after working with leading filmmakers for two decades, Kazhcha also won him the award for the best debutant director.
G. Venugopal (Ullam) and Manjari (Makalkku) bagged the award for the best male and female singers while Isaac Thomas Kottukappally (Sancharam, Oridam) won the award for the best background score. Gireesh Puthencherry (Kadhavaseshan) won the best lyricist award.
Perumazhakkalam also bagged awards for the best storywriter (Razaq), best music director (M. Jayachandran) and sound recordist (N. Hari Kumar). Sanusha (Kazhcha, Soumyam) and Yash (Kazhcha) shared the best child artiste awards.
The producer of the best film will get Rs. 100,000 and the director Rs. 40,000. Pradeep Nair who directed Oridam will receive a special jury award.
Other awards went to: Antony (editor, For The People), Chitra Studio (processing laboratory, Oridam), Renjith Ambady (makeup man, Makalkku), Kumar Edappal (costumes, Oridam) and Meera Krishnan (dubbing, Manjupoloru Penkutty).
Liji J. Pullappally (director, Sancharam), Mamukkoya (actor, Perumazhakkalam) and Kunchacko Boban (actor, Ee Snehatheerathu) received special reference by the jury for their outstanding performance.
Kovilan Ente Achachan, directed by M.A. Rahman, is the best documentary film. Adoor Gopalakrishnan’s Cinema Anubhavam (experiencing cinema) received the award for the best book on films.
