Kerala State Film Awards - 2000

Saayaahnam bags seven awards

After much awaiting and speculations, the Kerala State Film Awards for the year 2000 has finally been announced, with, of course, a few pleasant surprises. The film Saayaahnam, directed by R Sharath and produced by MS Nazeer, has won the award for the best film and as well as six other awards. O Madhavan, who has played the main role in Saayaahnam, has bagged the award for the best actor while Samyuktha Verma has bagged the best actress award for her performance in Mazha, Madhuranombarakaattu and Swayamvarapanthal.

MT Vasudevan Nair, who directed the film Oru Cheru Punchiry, has been adjudged the best director of the year. Veteran filmmaker M Krishnan Nair, the maker of films like Kaattuthulasi, Vivaahitha and Thaara has been selected for the prestigious JC Daniel Lifetime Achievement Award.

Director TV Chandran has won a Special jury award for his film Susanna while Kamal’s Madhuranombarakaattu has won the award for the second best film. Jayaram has won the award for the second best actor for his performance in Swayamvarapanthal while Vani Viswanath has bagged the award for the second best actress for her performance in Susanna. OV Usha, who wrote the song Aaraadyam Parayum for the film Mazha has bagged the award for the best lyricist while the same song has bagged for Asha G Menon the award for the best playback singer (female). Vidhu Prathap has been declared the best male playback singer for the song Kaalame Kaikolluka from the film Saayaahnam. Vidyasagar has got the award for the best music director for Devadootan while Baiju has bagged the award for the best background score in Mazha. The other awards are - Best story - R.Sharath (Saayaahnam), Best cinematography - Sunny Joseph (Swayamvarapanthal), Best Editing - Beena Paul (Saayaahnam), Best Child artists - Aswin Thampy and Baby Manjima (Madhuranombarakaattu), Best Screenplay - MP Sukumaran Nair (Shayanam), Best Art Director - AV Gokul Das (Saayaahnam), Best Sound Recordist - Harikumar (Mazha), Best Processing Laboratory - Prasad Film Laboratory (Swayamvarapanthal), Best Make-up Artist - Pandyan (Madhuranombarakaattu), Best Costume Designer - AB Satheeshan (Devadootan), Best Dubbing Artist - S Gopalakrishnan (Saayaahnam), Best Documentary - Palathulli Peruvellam (Directed by K Mohankumar) and Best Debutante Director - Subramanyam Shantakumar (Mankolangal). John Paul has bagged for his book MT Oru Anuyaathra, the award for the best book on Cinema while MG Radhakrishnan has won the award for the best writing on cinema for his Iddaliyum Fascisavum.

Sibi Malayil’s Devadootan has been adjudged the best popular film with artistic values. Of course, this year’s award too is not without controversies. G Harikumar, the producer of Mazha, has come up with the allegation that there has been a lot of manipulation in the list of award winners. He is of the opinion that though Mazha has bagged five awards, it hasn’t been given the award for the second best film. Other controversies may, who knows, crop up soon.