Tollywood’s Nandi Film awards gained a Telangana tinge this time around, with two films ‘Jai Bolo Telangana’ and ‘Poru Telangana’ - produced when the separate statehood movement was at one of its highs - together getting as many as five of the prestigious awards. The awards for 2011 were announced by information and technology minister DK Aruna on Saturday.
'Jai Bolo Telangana' got the best feature film on national integration and its director N Shankar received the best director award. Balladeer Gaddar, an active participant of the Telangana movement, was given the award for best male singer for the song “Podusthunna Poddu meeda” in 'Jai Bolo Telangana'.
For long there has been a criticism among the members of the film industry that Tollywood was dominated by people from a particular region and that artistes from Telangana were meted out a raw deal. It seems the government was trying to counter this view by honouring people who worked for Telangana films.
Meanwhile, ‘Srirama Rajyam’ won the award for the best feature film, followed by ‘Rajanna’ and ‘Virodi’. Actors Mahesh Babu and Nayantara were adjudged best actor and actress.