CHENNAI: Kollywood’s leading stars, Rajnikanth and Kamal Haasan won the Tamil Nadu government’s Best Actor awards for 2007 and 2008 respectively, which were announced on Monday.
Rajnikanth’s Sivaji The Boss swept the awards for 2007 with a tally of six awards, closely followed by Mozhi, which bagged four awards. Awards for the year 2008 saw Dasavathaaram winning four awards, including best actor and best film.
Celebrity couple Suriya and Jothika won an award each, in the Best Actor: Special Prize for 2008 (Vaaranam Aayiram) and Best Actress for Mozhi for 2007 categories. The Best Actress Award for the year 2008 was bagged by Sneha for her performance in Pirivom Sandhippom.
The awards announced for the year 2007, saw a fine mix of both commercial blockbusters and critically acclaimed films being recognised. Kollywood’s controversial offbeat film Mirugam, which dealt with the sensitive subject of a man diagnosed with HIV, bagged three awards, similar to Billa, one of the year’s biggest blockbusters.
Periyar, which won a National Award in the Best Film (State) category, won three awards, including Best Film (Special Prize), Best Actor (Special Prize) and Best Makeup, with Vairamuthu’s lyrics in the film getting a special mention.
Subramaniyapuram, one of 2008’s critically acclaimed leading grosser, managed just one state award, that too in the Best Singer (Male) category, while Chief Minister M Karunanidhi won award for the Best Dialogue Writer for the film Uliyin Osai.
Naan Kadavul, Abhiyum Naanum and Vaaranam Aayiram bagged three awards each. Actor Prakash Raj, who won a National Award as Best Actor was adjudged Best Supporting Actor. Critically acclaimed Poo won two awards, along with director Karu Pazhaniappan’s Pirivom Sandhippom. Former judge of the Madras High Court, Justice AK Rajan, headed the awards committee.