A total of 59 legends of
Tamil film industry were felicitated by Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J. Jayalalithaa
at the centenary celebrations of Indian cinema in Chennai (Sep 21, 2013). The
four-day mega event (Sep 21-24) kicked off.
Jayalalithaa, who was the
chief guest of the evening, honoured all the awardees with a miniature model of
bioscope for their contribution to Tamil cinema. From direction to production
to acting to music composing, members from different crafts of cinema were
bestowed upon with the award.
In the actors' segment, yesteryear
stalwarts such as S.S Rajendran, Manorama, M.N Rajam, Rajashree, Sharada, Kanchana,
Jamuna, Krishakumari, Sowcar Janaki, Jayaprada, Jayasudha, and Sivakumar were
awarded. Current generation actors such as Kamal Haasan, Rajinikanth, Trisha
Krishnan, Meena, Simran and Vivek were too honoured.
J. Mahendran, C.V Rajendran
and P. Vasu were honoured for their contribution as directors to the industry
over the years.
Singers such as L.R Eswari, M.S
Rajeshwari and Jamuna Rani with music-violinist M. Ramasubramaniam and singer-composer
Illayaraja were awarded too.
Renowned producers such as
Saravanan of AVM group, Venkat Ram Reddy of Vijaya productions, Ramesh Prasad
of Prasad lab & studios and R.B Chaudhary were also conferred the award.
Technicians such as Suresh (Anand
Pictures Circuit), Jawahar (Delight Theatres, Coimbatore), Pulamaipithan (Lyricist),
Aroor Das (Writer), N.S Varma and Babu (Cinematographers), R. Vittal (Editor) and
Sundaram (Choreographer) were awarded.
Delivering the presidential
address, Jayalalitha looked back at her own days as an actress. "When I was an actress, celebrating 100
days run of a film at the box-office was considered a rare achievement. Today, we
are celebrating the centenary year of Indian cinema, and it is indeed a very
special moment for all of us," she said.
Jayalalitha was one of the
reigning stars of yesteryear. She made her cinematic debut at the age of 15. She even remembered some of the biggest
contributors to Indian cinema.
The list includes names such
as M.G Ramachandran, Sivaji Ganesh, Gemini Ganeshan, N.T Rama Rao, Akkineni
Nageswara Rao, Relangi, S.V Ranga Rao, Gumadi Venkateswara Rao, Prem Nazir, Satyan,
Rajkumar, Dev Anand, Rajesh Khanna, Raj Kapoor, Mohammed Rafi, Kishore Kumar, Naushad,
Laxmikant-Pyarelal, Naushad, Asha Bhonsle, Lata Mangeshkar, T.M Soundarajan, P.B
Srinivas, Vishwanathan-Ramamurthy and Ghantasala among many more.
"Indian cinema is
incomplete without the contribution of all these legends. Cinema has been an
important part in all our lives over the years and I wish it continues to hold
a special place. I wish we celebrate another century of Indian cinema too,"
she added. Also present at the event were several stakeholders of south Indian
film industry.
C. Kalyan, president, South
Indian Film Chamber of Commerce speaking on behalf of south Indian film
industry extended his gratitude to the chief minister. "This event wouldn't
have been possible without the support and guidance of our chief minister. I
would like to thanks her on behalf of our industry and request her to continue
supporting us," he added.
The evening was dedicated for
the celebration of Tamil industry. All the popular actors such as Vikram, Ajith
Kumar, Vijay, Dhanush and many more were present. Post the inaugural ceremony; gala
cultural performance was rendered by cine stars of south celluloid world for
the audience at Jawaharlal Nehru stadium. President Pranab Mukherjee will
preside over the valedictory on Sep 24.
No comments:
Post a Comment