THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan on Friday presented the 2019 Kerala State Film Awards and the J C Daniel Award at a function here. Addressing the select gathering, the chief minister said artists who had used the medium of cinema for social uplift were honoured through the state film awards.
Veteran filmmaker Hariharan, who was conferred with the J C Daniel Award, is an artist who had travelled with cinema for about half a century and made films which went on to become milestones in the annals of Malayalam tinsel town, he said.
Hariharan’s screen adaptation of the 13 scripts written by M T Vasdudevan Nair played a pivotal role in modernising mainstream Malayalam cinema in terms of thematic treatment, said the chief minister.
K Jayakumar, poet-lyricist and former chief secretary, received the JC Daniel Award on behalf of Hariharan. The film awards were also distributed. Pinarayi Vijayan released the stamp published in connection with the International Film Festival of Kerala (IFFK). Culture Minister A K Balan presided.