The second night of the SIIMA (South Indian International Film Awards) saw the winners for Tamil and Malayalam cinema announced, with ‘Ponniyin Selvan: Part 1’, ‘Rocketry’ and ‘Vikram’ in Tamil, and ‘Bro Daddy’, ‘Nna Thaan Case Kodu’ and ‘Hridayam’ in Malayalam taking the spotlight.
In Tamil, director Mani Ratnam’s ‘Ponniyin Selvan: Part 1’ led the race with 10 nominations, followed by the Kamal Haasan-starrer ‘Vikram’ with nine. R. Madhavan’s ‘Rocketry’ nabbed the award for Best Leading Actor, while ‘PS1’ won the ultimate award for Best Film, narrowly inching out ‘Rocketry’, though Madhavan did win the award for Best Debutant Director.
In Malayalam, ‘Bheeshma Parvam’ led the race with eight nods, followed by ‘Thallumaala’ with seven, though the biggest award was nabbed by ‘Nna Thaan Case Kodu’, which won Best Film.
The race was a steep one in both categories, because much like the first night where Telugu and Kannada cinema had produced several critically and commercially acclaimed blockbusters, Tamil and Malayalam cinema did the same, so it was very hard to predict who would win the race, especially as the voting was done by a fan poll.
In Tamil, the biggest contest was between ‘Ponniyin Selvan: Part 1’ and ‘Rocketry: The Nambi Effect’ with the former winning by a narrow margin. In Malayalam, it was between ‘Bheeshma Parvam’, ‘Thallumaala’ and ‘Nna Thaan Case Kodu’, though ‘Thallumaala’ won Best Leading Actor.
SIIMA is an occasion to celebrate the artistry of South Indian cinema in the fields of direction, technical achievements, story writing and cinematography, as well as provide a platform to take South cinema to international audiences.
The event was being held at the Dubai Trade Centre, between the dates of 15-16 September, with the first night giving off the awards to Telugu and Kannada, and the second for Tamil and Malayalam.