Illaiyaraja Honoured by Tamil Nadu Government
A grand event was held on Saturday 13 September to honour music composer Illaiyaraja for completing 50 years in the film industry. Illaiyaraja made his film debut in 1976 whennhe composed the hit soundtrack for Annakili. He has since completed more than 1000 films and earlier this year became the first Indian composer to compose a symphony.
The event was attended by-well known film personalities, including Kamalhaasan and Rajinikanth and the unveiling of some deeply hidden secrets about Illaiyaraja.
In his speech, Tamil Nadu Chief Minister, M.K. Stalin announced that the Government would sponsor an annual award in Illaiyaraja’s name to encourage and recognise young and talented musicians.
Brilliant Marketing for Dhanush’s fourth directorial, Idli Kadai
Dhanush has used creative marketing for his next dirctorial, Idli Kadai. The cast was announced one by one on social media, creating a lot of hye and heightening expectations of the film. The film will see Dhanush in the lead role, with Shalini Pandey, Nithya Menen, Raj Kiran, Sathyaraj, R. Parthiban and Arun Vijay, a strong and varied cast with incredible acting depth. Idli Kadai iis produced by Dhanush’s own production company, Wunderbar Films and will be presented by Red Giant Movies under its new CEO, Inbanidhi Stalin, the son of Udhayanidhi Stalin and the grandson of M.K. Stalin.
Soundarya Rajinikanth to produce a Netflix series
Arjun Das and Aishwarya Lakshmi will play the lead roles in new web series that will be directed by Maari-fame director, Balaji Mohan. On-location shooting of this romantic comedy is currently taking place in Chennai and Pondicherry.
Vidhyasagar’s son to make his acting debut
Lingusamy, whose last hit directorial was the Karthi starrer, Paiya, is to direct another romantic road trip movie. He has cast Harsha Vardhan, the son of music composer Vidhyasagar in the lead role. Harsha Vardhan has already made waves as a playback singer and music composer and will make his debut as an actor through this film
This year’s SIIMA Award recipients
The South Indian International Movie Awards (SIIMA) were presented at a grand ceremony held in Dubai last Saturday. Sivakarthikeyan’s Amaran, Vijay Sethupathy’s Maharaja and Harish Kalyan’s Lubber Pandhu featured prominently in the major awards.
Special awards were awarded to Sivakumar, father of Suriya and Karthi, who won the Exemplary Achievement Award while Trisha was given a special award for her 25 years in Tamil cinema. The full list of recipients appears belowm
| Award | Receipient |
| Best Film | Amaran |
| Best Director | Rajkumar Periyasamy (Amaran) |
| Best Director (Critic’s Choice) | Nithilan Saminathan (Maharaja) |
| Best Actor in a lead role | Karthi (Meiyyazhagan) |
| Best Actress in a lead role | Dushara Vijayan (Raayan) |
| Best Actor in a Supporting role | Kalaiyarasan (Vaazhai) |
| Best Actress in a Supporting Role | Abhirami (Maharaja) |
| Best Actress | Sai Pallavi (Amaran) |
| Best Actor in a Negative Role | Anurag Kashyap (Maharaja) |
| Best Actor in a Comedy Role | Bala Saravanan (Lubber Pandhu) |
| Best Debutante Actor | Vijay Kanishka (Hir List) |
| Best Debutante Actress | Sri Gouri Priya (Lover) |
| Best Debutante Director | Thamizharasan Pachamuthu (Lubber Pandhu) |
| Best Rising Star | Harish Kalyan (Lubber Pandhu) |
| Fresh New Face | Sanjana Krishnamoorthy (Lubber Pandhu) |
| Best Cinematography | Ch Sai (Amaran) |
| Best Music | G.V. Prakash Kumar (Amaran) |
| Best Male Playback Singer | Haricharan for Minnale from Amaran |
| Best Female Playback Singer | Sinduri Vishal for Minikki Minikki from Thangalaan |
| Best Lyric | Umadevi Kuppan for Poraen Naa Poraen from Meiyyazhagan |
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