dhanush fans club: Rich haul of national awards for Tamil film artists

Kollywood bags award for Best Actor, Best Director, Best Actress and Best Lyrics

It was a rich haul for the Tamil film industry with respect to the National Film Awards for 2010, which were announced on Thursday.

“I did not expect this award. I am very happy, but will wait till the Superstar [Rajinikanth] recovers and gets back home to celebrate,” said actor Dhanush, who won the Best Actor award.

Dhanush thanked directors Vetrimaran and Selvaraghavan for teaching him the art of cinema.

“I dedicate the award to my parents,” he said.

Vetrimaran, who won the Best Director award, said he did not make ‘Aadukalam' with an award in mind. “Only one per cent of the award goes to the director. The remaining 99 per cent is for the team,” he said.

Others in Aadukalam team who got national awards were T.E. Kishore (Best Editing) and Dinesh Kumar (Best Choreography).

Special occasion

It was also special that the news of the award came on Vetrimaran's mentor Balu Mahendra's birthday. “All the achievements of his students and assistants are actually his. We owe it to him,” said Vetrimaran, who also won the Best Screenplay award.

In addition to ‘Aadukalam', the film ‘Thenmerku Paruvakkatru' did well, picking up awards for the Best Actress (Saranya Ponvannan) and Best Lyrics (Vairamuthu). An elated Saranya said: “I am very, very happy.”

Six-time winner

Vairamuthu, for whom this is the sixth national award, said: “The award is for a song about a mother belonging to a working class. I would like to dedicate it to all those mothers who sweat it out and work all day, so that they can provide their children with education . This is a particularly special year for the Tamil film industry. With K. Balanchander receiving the Dadasaheb Phalke award and so many Tamil technicians receiving news of this honour today, it is raining national awards in Tamil Nadu,” he said.

Thambi Ramaiah, who will receive the Best Supporting Actor award for his role in ‘Mynaa,' got the news while he was busy shooting in Dindigul.

He attributed the success to the director of the film Prabhu Solomon. “Much of my modulation and body language comes from what I learnt from my father. My family supported me for nearly 25 years, with the hope that one day I will achieve something big and this is the day we have all been waiting for!,” he said.

‘Enthiran' won awards for Best Production Design (Sabu Cyril) and Best Special Effects (V.Srinivas M.Mohan). ‘Namma Gramam' also won two awards for Best Supporting Actress (Sukumari) and Costume Design (Indrans Jayan).