Ujala -Asianet Film Awards

The Lal Jose-directed Classmates, director Major Ravi, Mohanlal and Padmapriya bag top honors at the 9th Ujala-Asianet Film Awards, which were announced on January 20. While Classmates bagged the award for the Best Film, Major Ravi was chosen the Best Director for his debut feature film Keerthichakra. Mohanlal became the Best Actor on account of his performance in the films Keerthichakra while Padmapriya was adjudged the Best Actress for her performances in Karuththapakshikal and Vadakkumnaathan.

Saikumar got the award for the Best Actor in a Character Role for his performance in Chakkaramuththu, while Radhika got the award for the Best Actress in a Character Role for her performance as Raziya in Classmates. Siddique was adjudged the Best Actor in a Villain's Role for his performances in Beda Dosthe and Prajapathy and Innocent got selected as the Best Actor in a Comic Role for the films Rasathanthram and Yes, Your Honour.

The other awards are as follows: Best scenarist - James Albert (Classmates), Best Lyricist - Gireesh Puthencherry (Vadakkumnaathan), Best Music Director - Raveendran (posthumously for Vadakkumnaathan), Best Singer (Male) - G. Venugopal for the song "Kainiraye Venna tharaam…" in the film Baba Kalyani, Best Singer (female) - Manjari for the song Attinkarayoraththe from Rasathanthram, Best Child Artist (Male) -Master Rohith (Prajapathy), Best Child Artist (female) - Baby Malavika (Karuththapakshikal), Best Cinematographer - Santhosh Thundiyil (Palunku), Best Editor - Ranjan Abraham (Classmates), Best Sound Recordist - Anoop and Vinod (Karuththapakshikal), Best Star Pair of the Year – Jeeva and Gopika (Keerthichakra), Best New Face of the year (Male) - Skanda (Notebook) and Best New Face of the year (female) - Roma (Notebook).

A Special Jury Award will be given to Rosshan Andrrews, the director of Notebook and another to Laksmi Sharma, the heroine of Palunku. Noted Producer Shobana Parameswaran Nair gets the Asianet Lifetime Achievement Award for overall contribution. The awards will be presented at a grand ceremony to be held on the 28th of January at the Chandrashekharan Nair Stadium, Thiruvananthapuram.