51st Kerala State Film Awards: Here is the full list of winners

Jeo Baby’s ‘The Great Indian Kitchen’, which won praises from all across for its portrayal of a woman’s bold fightback within a oppressive patriarchal family, has been chosen as the best film at the 51st Kerala State Film Awards declared on Saturday afternoon.

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Director Jeo Baby also won the award for the best original screenplay. Choosing the film was a unanimous decision for the jury, according to actor-director Suhasini, the jury chairperson.

Actor Jayasurya won his second state award for Best Actor (Male) for his performance in ‘Vellam’, which kept afloat an archetypal drunkard tale, while Anna Ben won Best Actor (female) for her performance in ‘Kappela’ as a naive young woman who has to negotiate many a pitfall when she goes out into the big world. Sidhartha Siva won the best director award for ‘Ennivar’.

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These are the first awards after amending the rules to introduce a two-level mechanism for the jury in the wake of an increase in entries for the awards. The main jury had to view around 30 films selected from a total of 80 submissions by a preliminary jury. Actor-director Suhasini is heading the jury, while eight-time national award winner and Kannada director P. Seshadri and director Bhadran were the chairpersons of the two committees of the preliminary adjudication committee.

Declaring the award, Minister for Cultural Affairs Saji Cherian said that the award sends across a message that women coming forward in all walks of life, including in cinema, is the need of the time. Ms.Suhasini said that Kerala has to be appreciated for going ahead with organising the award during the COVID-19 pandemic period, providing inspiration for artistes.

“The quality of all the films have been good. Only when there is a calamity, people think differently. It will bring out different emotions in people. Production would have been difficult during this period, yet we had 80 films for consideration,” said Ms.Suhasini. She said that the competition for the Best Actor (Female) award witnessed was tough with seven contenders in the final round.

Here is the full list of winners

Best Film – The Great Indian Kitchen (Director: Jeo Baby )

Best Actor (Male) – Jayasurya (Vellam )

Best Actor (Female) – Anna Ben ( Kappela)

Best Director – Siddharth Siva (Ennivar)

Second Best Film –Thinkalazhcha Nishchayam (Director: Senna Hegde)

Best Film with Popular Appeal and Aesthetic Value – Ayyappanum Koshiyum (Dir- Sachidanandan KR)

Best Character Actor (Male) – Sudheesh ( Ennivar, Bhoomiyile Manohara Swakaryam )

Best Character Actor (Female) – Sreerekha ( Veyil)

Best Debut Director – Muhkammed Mustafa (Kappela )

Best Story – Senna Hegde (Thinkalazhcha Nishchayam)

Best Composer – M Jayachandran (Sufiyum Sujathayum )

Best Background Music – M Jayachandran (Film – Sufiyum Sujathayum )

Best Playback Singer (Male) – Shahabaz Aman (”Sundaranayavane” from Halal Love Story and “Akashmayavale” from ‘Vellam’)

Best Playback Singer (Female) – Nithya Mammen (”Vathukkal Vellaripravu” from Sufiyum Sujathayum)

Best Lyrics – Anwar Ali (”Smaranakal Kadayi” from Bhoomiyile Manohara Swakaryam and “Theerame” from Malik)

Best Editor – Mahesh Narayanan (C U Soon)

Best Screenplay (Original) – Geo Baby (The Great Indian Kitchen)

Best Screenplay (Adapted) — No deserving entries

Best Cinematography – Chandru Selvaraj (Kayattam)

Best Children’s Film – Bonami (Dir- Tony Sukumar)

Best Child Actor (Male) – Niranjan S (Kasiminte Kadal)

Best Child Actor (Female) – Aravya Sharma (Pyali)

Best Art Direction – Santosh Raman )pyali, Malik)

Best Sync Sound – Adarsh Joseph Cherian (Santoshathinte Onnam Rahasyam)

Best Sound Mixing – Ajith Abraham George (Sufiyum Sujathayum)

Best Sound Designing – Tony Babu (The Great Indian Kitchen)

Best Dubbing Artiste (Male) – Shoby Thilakan (Bhoomiyile Manohara swakaryam for Thambidurai)

Best Dubbing Artiste (Female) – Riya Saira (Ayyappanum Koshiyum for Kannamma)

Best Choreography – Lalitha Soby, Babu Xavier (Sufiyum Sujathayum)

Best Colourist – Liju Prabhakar (Kayattam)

Best Makeup – Rashid Ahmed (Article 21)

Best Costume – Dhanya Balakrishnan (Malik)

Best VFX – Saryas Muhammed (Love)

Jury Mention (Actor) – Siji Pradeep (Bharathappuzha)

Special award for transpersons or women for any category – Nanchiyamma (for rendition of the ‘Kalakkatha’ song from Ayyappanumn Koshiyum)

Jury Mention (Costume) – Nalini Jameela (Bharathappuzha)

Best Book on Cinema – Akhyanathinte Piriyan Kovanikal by P K Surendran

Best Article on Cinema – Adoorinte Anch Naayaka kathapathrangal by John Samuel