CHENNAI: Prasanna-Sneha starrer ‘Achchamundu! Achchamundu!’, a film by NRI Arun Vaidyanathan on child abuse, was adjudged the best film at the Tamil Film Awards organised by Tamil Nadu’s in-house film festival, the Chennai International Film Festival on Thursday.
The results, announced at the festival’s valedictory event, also mentioned Pasanga as the second best film.
Director Arun was awarded Rs 1 lakh for winning the best film award, while the film’s producer Srinivasan was awarded Rs 50,000.
Pandiraj, director of the children’s film Pasanga, was awarded Rs 70,000, while Sasikumar, the producer of the film, was awarded Rs 30,000. Cinematographer Rajesh Yadav was awarded the special jury award for individual artistic creation for his work in the period film Pokkisham.
Actress Suhasini Maniratnam, one of the guests, said in India the best films were now made in Tamil, and these films ought to be taken to big events, including international film festivals.
At the event, actress-film maker Revathy, who headed the jury, asked for a more sensitised audience, even as film makers today were making more sensitised films.
Actor Prasanna, on collecting the award on behalf of Arun, said he hoped the organisers included a best actor award. “The jury seems to be a fair, as the awards were based on a film’s merit alone. If such a festival had a best actor’s award, it is likely that I would win a prize,” he said.
The 7th Chennai International Film Festival was organised by Indo Cine Appreciation Foundation.