The 48th Kerala State Film Awards: Surprises galore

The annual Kerala State Film Awards, honouring the best of Malayalam cinema since 1969, was a takeaway of surprises this year--some coinciding to accentuate a moment, like a woman bagging the Best Director Award, and some shocking, like a lesser-known actor beating all the bigwigs to bag the Best Actor Award.

The annual Kerala State Film Awards, honouring the best of Malayalam cinema since 1969, was a takeaway of surprises this year--some coinciding to accentuate a moment, like Vidhu Vincent (in pic) becoming the first woman to be awarded the Best Director Awa 

It was not just a first for Vidhu Vincent alone, with Vinayakan (in pic) beating the likes of veterans Mohanlal and Sreenivasan to win the Best Actor Award for his well-received role as Ganga in Kammattipaadam. (Photo | Special Arrangement)

Another debutante got lucky too, as Rajisha Vijayan took home the Best Actress Award for her role as Elizabeth aka Eli in the movie Anuraga Karikkin Vellam. (Photo | Special Arrangement)

Though veteran Salim Kumar lost to Vinayakan in the Best Actor category, he well made it up with his Karutha Joothan bagging the Best Story Award. (Photo | Special Arrangement)

Playback singer K S Chithra managed to stay a favourite with the jury, as she won the Best Female Singer Award for the song Nadavathil in Kambhoji. (Photo | Special Arrangement)

Sooraj Santhosh added to the multiple-award movie Guppy by winning the Best Male Singer Award for his song Thaniye. (Photo | Special Arrangement)

It was the seventh state award for M. Jayachandran with his Best Music Director Award win for Kambhoji. (Photo | Special Arrangement)

The honours for renowned poet and Jnanpith Awardee, the late O N V Kurup, never seem to stop even after death, as he was awarded the Best Lyricist for his work in Kambhoji. (Photo | EPS)