Awards for Vikram, Yesudas, Vijayashanthi

Chennai, June 15 (IANS): The 51st Manikchand Filmfare Awards for the south was not only too long an event but also saw tried and tested film

personalities bagging most honours.

It was a late night affair over the weekend at the Nehru indoor stadium in Chennai and therefore the media left it out of the headlines.

The Lifetime Achievement Award went to singer Yesudas, the mellifluous Malayali who made it big in Tamil cinema as well. In the women's category,

the same award to veteran Telugu actress Vijayashanthi who described how difficult it had been in the last 25 years to find a place in the sun in a male-dominated industry.

In Tamil, "Pithamagan" stole the show, winning many awards - for best film, best director (Bala), best actor (Vikram), best actress (Laila), best actor in a supporting role (Surya) and best supporting actress (Sangeetha).

Vivek was chosen as best comedian for his role in "Saamy".

Jeevan was awarded best villain for "Kaakka Kaakka" and Haris Jeyraj was declared best music director for his score in the same film.

The special jury award went to the film "Anbe Sivam".

The Tamil film "Kaakka Kaakka" got the best cinematographer (Rajasekhar) and choreographer (Brinda) awards. The best playback singer was Chakri for "Sathyam".

In Telugu, most awards went to "Okkadu" - best film, best director (Gunasekhar), best actor (Mahesh Babu) and best music director (Mani

Sharma).

The best actress award went to Asin for her role in "Amma Naana O Tamil Ammayi". The best supporting actress for the same film was Jayasudha.

In Kannada, the best film was "Paris Pranaya". The best actor (Sudeep) and the best actress (Meena) were awarded for their roles in "Swathi Muthu".

The best music director was R.P. Patnaik for "Excuse Me".

The best Malayalam film was "Manasinakkare". The best director for the same film was Sathyan Anthikad. The best actor was Jayaram and the best music director for the same film was Ilayaraja.

Meera Jasmine bagged the best actress award for the film "Kasturimaan".

The awards ceremony attracted very little attention because the winners had been announced months earlier.

What put people off most, it would seem, was that each of the winners reminded the audience of how many times he or she had won in the past.