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CHENNAI TIMES TUESDAY 5 JULY 2016BACKBEAT

THE WINNERS TAKE IT ALL

STAR-STUDDED

Christina.Francis@timesgroup.com

Glitz and glamour, pomp andshow, grit and glory, awardsand accolades — Godrej

Goldilocks SIIMA 2016, in its fifth edi-tion, had all the trappings of a perfectsouth Indian potboiler. The red car-pet shenanigans of reigning divas oftinseltown set the temperatures soar-ing, the high octane naach-gaana anddrama on stage kept the entertain-ment quotient at an all-time high.And of course, for all those whowalked away with awards in hand,there was a happy ending, too.

Held at the swanky SuntecConvention and Exhibition Centre,Singapore, the two-day extravaganzathat celebrates south Indian cinemaand recognises talent from Tamil,Telugu, Malayalam and Kannadafilm industries got off to a glitzy starton Day 1, with Rana Daggubati wel-coming Singapore’s south Indiandiaspora in true filmy fashion, com-plete with a punch dialogue. Takingthe baton from him were hosts for theevening, Lakshmi Manchu and Ali,who kept the audience in splits withtheir easy banter throughout the

four-hour show.Sandalwood’s Akulbrought in a fresh dash ofhumour with his brilliantemceeing as well. The firstevening, which awarded the besttalent of Telugu and Kannada filmsof 2015, saw a stellar attendancefrom stars across the south, includ-ing matinee idols Chiranjeevi,Khushbu, Vikram, Suhasini, Rana,Allu Arjun, Puneeth Rajkumar,Nithya Menen, and more. HumaQureshi’s presence added someBollywood glam to the do, whileKabir Bedi made an appearance tomark his foray into South cinema.The stalwarts cheered on as veteranplayback singer S Janaki was hon-oured with a Lifetime AchievementAward.

Brilliantly choreographed songand dance acts by Pragya Jaiswal,Pranitha Subhash and Rachita Ramadded a filmy tadka to the show. Thehighlight, however, was Sayeesha’stribute to the big four of Telugu cin-ema — Chiranjeevi, Nagarjuna,Venkatesh and Balakrishna. Inwhat was her first ever stage per-formance, she shimmied to hitnumbers of all four stalwarts andalso pulled off Chiru’s iconic“Veena Step” like no one elsedid before. Devi Sri Prasadimpressed with a high-energygig, which had the whole

crowdon its

feet.Day 2,

which was dedi-cated to Tamil and

Malayalam films,saw the auditorium

packed to capacity withSingapore’s millingTamil-speaking popula-tion. And keeping them

entertained were a bunch of funnymen and lovely women — Shiva,Sathish, Ranjini Haridas andDhanya.

Star power on Day 2 was stellar too— with Vikram, Nivin Pauly,Prithviraj, Nayanthara, RadhikaApte and more making their pres-ence felt. Veteran filmmaker PanchuArunachalam was honoured with aLifetime Achievement Award.Hansika, Amyra Dastur, AishwaryaRajesh and Huma Qureshi put upsome sexy performances. Kerala’sNeeraj Madhav was the only maleactor to perform; and he set somepretty high standards. The rockstarof the evening though was Anirudh.He made a smashing entry, com-plete with exotic dancers and drag-ons, and had the crowd on its feetfor 10 whole minutes; that too at2.30 am! It was a fitting finale tothe grand filmy weekend.

S JANAKI TURNED IT INTO AN 80s PARTYON STAGE…Veteran of over 48,000 songs in south Indian cin-

ema as well as Bollywood, S Janaki, washonoured with a Lifetime Achievement

Award. As a tribute, Usha Uthup, who is aself-confessed fan of Janaki amma, performed amedley of her timeless hits. The 78-year-oldJanaki proved that her music is timeless indeedwhen she got on stage and rendered a few linesfrom all the songs she’s sung for the actressespresent there — Suhasini, Khushbu, Sripriya,Radikaa et al. She ended her acceptance speechby lisping, “Thank you very much” in a tod-dler’s voice.

MEGA MOMENT ON STAGE

In a fitting tribute to Chiranjeevi, a montage ofall the greatest moments from the Megastar’scareer was played on stage. But what made themoment truly special was when he was joinedby all his yesteryear heroines on stage, includ-ing Radikaa (with whom he’s done many films)and Suhasini. Taking him by surprise, Suhasinibroke into a song: “Malli malli idi raani roju…”getting Chiru all moist-eyed. Allu Aravindcalled him “the most wonderful human being”,who still surprises him with the empathy he hastowards everybody. The mega bonhomie endedwith all the actors crowding around Chiru for amega selfie.

DSP SINGS FOR HIS DADIn what was an emotional moment, the usuallyboisterous and upbeat Devi Sri Prasad turnedsomber when he was asked to sing a few lines onstage after he picked up his award for BestMusic Director (Telugu). “This is a song I wrotefor my dad, and I dedicate this all those lovingdads out there who made this life possible forus…” he said, and went on to croon a few lines ofNaanaku Prematho… choking with emotion allthe while.

ALLU ARAVIND WAS THE VILLAIN INRANA’S LIFEWhen Rana Daggubati was presented the awardfor Best Actor in a Negative Role by Allu Aravindfor his Bhallaladeva act in Bãhubali, Rana toldAllu Aravind, “I’m happy to receive this awardfrom you, ’cos you are the villain in my life.” Thenhe looked at Chiranjeevi and added, amidstchuckles, “You may not believe this, but as kids,neither was Charan scared of you nor was I of mydad. But both of us were terrified of him. If webunked a class or failed in a subject, he would getto know and ensure everyone knew about it.”

AKUL CALLS SHRUTI HAASAN‘HARIHARAN’; SATHISH TURNS RAKULINTO RAHULThis is one slip of the tongue that funny manAkul won’t forget anytime soon. The actor, whowas one of the co-hosts for the evening, meant tocall Shruti Haasan on stage to give away anaward but ended up saying “ShrutiHariharan…” Though he was quick to correcthimself, Shruti didn’t seem amused with thefaux pas. She’s later said to have hunted downAkul to ask him why he changed her dad’sname! Akul apparently hosts a TV show ofwhich Shruti Hariharan is also a part of. “I amso used to saying Shruti Hariharan that it justslipped out of my mouth…” Luckily for Akulthough, Shruti took it all in good humour.Meanwhile, Sathish, who was co-hosting Day 2,called Rakul Preet Singh ‘Rahul Preet Singh’.“Rahul!?” Rakul asked, laughing, while Sathishcorrected himself.

SUHASINI’S WORD OF ADVICE Tired of the sexist nature of jokes doled out bythe men, led by Ali on Day 1, and Shiva andSathish on Day 2, Suhasini made an interestingcomment: “You guys are doing an excellent job,keeping us all entertained with you quick wit.But one request please — avoid poking fun atwomen and kids... that’s in bad taste.” Truerwords were never spoken.

ALLU ARJUN BREAKS INTO A TEENMAAR DANCE

In Anirudh’s highlight act, he went off the stageand did a lil’ jig with almost everyone seatedamong the guests. But Allu Arjun took it onestep further when he followed Anirudh’s cueand got on stage with him, and broke into aimpromptu teen maar dance, in total mass style.Gotta love the stylish star for the sport that he is.

CINEMA,SHENANIGANS AND SUPERSTARS:SIIMA 2016 WASA SMASH HIT

LIFETIME ACHIEVEMENT AWARDS

FROM THE SIDELINES

WINNERS

RED HAUTE ON THE RED CARPET

Shriya Saran Vedhika

Samantha andShruti Haasan

BrindaPrasad

Rajesh Krishnamurthy,Himalaya presents the awardto Vignesh Shivan

Nayanthara gets her awardfrom Vignesh Shivan

Jayam Ravi

Vikram

Nithya Menen

Allu Arjun

RanaDaggubati

KeerthySuresh

Pranitha

RadhikaApte

Nayanthara

AishwaryaRajesh

Anirudh

Rakul Preet Singh

Hansika

Amyra

Devi Sri Prasad

6

Radikaa, Khushbu handover the LifetimeAchievement Award toPanchu Arunachalam. Alsoseen is Brinda Prasad

Chiranjeevi presentsthe LifetimeAchievement Awardto songstress SJanaki

Pics: T Malikarjun

BEST FILM | Thani OruvanBEST ACTOR | Vikram for I BEST ACTRESS | Nayanthara for

Naanum Rowdy DhaanBEST DIRECTOR | Vignesh Shivan for

Naanum Rowdy Dhaan BEST ACTOR (Critics) | Jayam Ravi

for Thani OruvanBEST ACTRESS (Critics) |

Nithya Menen for O Kadhal KanmaniBEST COMEDIAN |

RJ Balaji for Naanum Rowdy DhaanBEST DEBUTANT ACTOR

(Male) | GV Prakash for Darling BEST DEBUTANT ACTOR

(Female) | Keerthy Suresh for IdhuEnna Maayam

BEST MUSIC DIRECTOR |Anirudh for Naanum Rowdy Dhaan

MOST STREAMED SONG OF THEYEAR | Devi Sri Prasad for Yendi Yendifrom Puli

BEST PLAYBACK SINGER(Male) | Anirudh for Thangamey fromNaanum Rowdy Dhaan

BEST PLAYBACK SINGER(Female) | Shwetha Mohan for EnnaSolla from Thangamagan

BEST LYRICIST | Vairamuthu for O Kadhal Kanmani

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR(Male) | Prakash Raj for O KadhalKanmani

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR(Female) | Radikaa Sarathkumar forThangamagan

BEST ACTOR IN A NEGATIVEROLE | Arun Vijay for Yennai Arindhaal

SPECIAL AWARDS OF THE NIGHTLIFETIME ACHIEVEMENT AWARDS

| S Janaki and Panchu ArunachalamYOUTH ICON OF SOUTH INDIA |

SamanthaBEST CINEMATOGRAPHER | KK

Senthil Kumar for Bãhubali - TheBeginning

BEST FIGHT CHOREOGRAPHY |Peter Hein for Bãhubali - The Beginning

BEST DANCE CHOREOGRAPHY |Jani for Temper

BEST DEBUTANT PRODUCER | VijayKumar Reddy and Sashidhar Reddy forBhale Manchi Roju