THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: `Veruthe Oru Bharya,’ the dark horse at the box office in 2008, has swept the 11th Asianet- Ujala Awards-2009. The film, which marked the comeback of Jayaram, bagged five of the most important awards.
Akku Akbar (direction), Jayaram (popular actor), Gopika (best actress), K Gireesh Kumar (screenplay) and Ranjan Abraham (Editing).
However, `Veruthe Oru Bharya’ lost to Malayalam cinema’s biggest-ever multi-starrer, `Twenty 20’, in the race for the best picture.
K J Yesudas will receive the Lifetime Achievement Award. Mohanlal bagged the prize for the best actor for his role in `Madambi.’ Jagathy Sreekumar will be given a Special Jury Prize for the variety of roles he donned in 2008. The 11th Asianet-Ujala Film Awards - 2009 will be held at the Chandrasekharan Nair Stadium here on January 17.
The other major awards: Best character actor - Innocent (Innathe Chinthavishayam); best character actress - Samvritha Sunil (Minnaminnikoottam); best villain - Siddique (Madambi); best comedian - Salim Kumar (Annan Thampi); best cinematographer - M J Radhakrishnan (Adayalangal, Thirakatha); best pair - Jayasurya and Roma (Minnaminnikoottam, Shakespeare MA Malayalam); best music director - Vidyasagar (Mulla); best lyricist - Gireesh Puthenchery (Madambi-Amma Mazhakkaru...).
The awards were decided on the basis of nominations from the public.