In pictures: the South Indian International Movie Awards (SIIMA) in Dubai

The star-studded ceremony for the South Indian International Movie Awards (SIIMA) took place over the weekend at the Bollywood Parks Dubai.

The event celebrates the best of Telugu, Kannada, Tamil and Malayalam cinema.

This is the fifth time the awards were held in the UAE.

With the success of the second of the twin franchise of Baahubali even in Bollywood, the Telugu film awards were dominated by those involved with the original. Interestingly, while Prabhas won the best actor and director SS Rajamouli was honoured as well, Rana Daggubati got a special Entertainer of the Year trophy. The villain of Baahubali 2: The Conclusion as Bhallaladev also had The Ghazi Attack and Nene Raju Nene Mantri in his line-up of films in the past year.

Raajakumara ran away with most of the awards in Kannada. The winners were more varied though in the farthest film industries down south in India.

Thondimuthalum Driksakshiyum, Angamaly Diaries and Take Off shared the plaudits in Malayalam while Vikram Vedha and Mersal slugged it out for most of the attention in Tamil.

Stars in attendance included the critics award winner for best actor in Vikram Vedha – R Madhavan along with Keerthy Suresh, Rana Daggubati, Nivin Pauly, Bhumika Chawla, Nikki Galrani, Aditi Balan, Hansika Motwani, Shriya Sundar and Ekta Rathod among others.

Playback singer P Suseela was honoured with a lifetime achievement award. Sridevi, the late Bollywood superstar who also starred in many movies in the south, was remembered fondly. Tributes were paid to the actress who died in a hotel in Dubai in February this year.

MALAYALAM

Best film: Sandip Senan & Anish Thomas (Thondimuthalum Driksakshiyum)

Best director: Lijo Jose Pellissery (Angamaly Diaries)

Best actor in a leading role (male): Nivin Pauly (Njandukalude Naattil Oridavela)

Best actor in a leading role (male) critics: Fahadh Faasil (Thondimuthalum Driksakshiyum)

Best actor in a leading role (female): Parvathy (Take Off)

Best actor in a leading role (female) critics: Aishwarya Lekshmi (Mayaanadhi)

Best actor in a supporting role (male): Shane Nigam (Parava)

Best actor in a supporting role (female): Asha Sarath (Sunday Holiday)

Best actor in a negative role: Sarath ‘Appani’ (Angamaly Diaries)

Best music director: Shaan Rahman (Velipadinte Pusthakam)

Best lyric writer: Manu Manjith (Aaro Nenjil… Godha)

Best playback singer (male): Vineeth Sreenivasan (Janah Meri Janah… Cappuccino)

Best playback singer (female): K S Chithra (Nadavathil… Kambhoji)

Best debutant actor (male): Antony Varghese (Angamaly Diaries)

Best debutant actor (female): Nimisha Sajayan (Thondimuthalum Driksakshiyum)

Best debutant director: Mahesh Narayanan (Take Off)

Best comedian: Aju Varghese (Godha)

Best Cinematographer: Sanu John Varughese (Take Off)

TAMIL

Best film: S Sashikanth for Vikram Vedha

Best director: Atlee for Mersal

Best actor in a leading role (male): Siva Karthikeyan in Velaikkaran

Best actor in a leading role (male) critics: Vikram Vedha in Madhavan

Best actor in a leading role (female): Nayanthara in Aramm

Best actor in a leading role (female) critics: Aditi Balan in Aruvi

Best actor in a supporting role (male): MS Bhaskar in 8 Thottakkal

Best actor in a supporting role (female): Shivada in Adhe Kangal

Best actor in a negative role: SJ Surya in Mersal

Best music director: AR Rahman for Mersal

Best lyric writer: Vivek for Aala Poraan in Mersal

Best playback singer (male): Sid Sriram for Maacho in Mersal

Best playback singer (female): Luksimi Sivaneswaralingam Senthoora in Bogan

Best debutant actor (male): Vasanth Ravi in Taramani

Best debutant actor (female): Aditi Rao Hydari in Kaatru Veliyidai

Best debutant director: Arun Prabhu Purushothaman in Aruvi

Best comedian: Soori in Sangili Bungili Kadhava Thorae

Best Cinematographer: Ravi Varman in Kaatru Veliyidai

TELUGU

Best film: Shobu Yarlagadda & Prasad Devineni (Baahubali 2: The Conclusion)

Best director: YR Reddy, J Sai Babu & B Srinivas (Gautamiputra Satakarni)

Best film (critics): SS Rajamouli (Baahubali 2: The Conclusion)

Entertainer of the year: Rana Daggubati (Baahubali 2, The Ghazi Attack, Nene Raju Nene Mantri)

Best actor in a leading role (male): Prabhas (Baahubali 2)

Best actor in a leading role (male) critics: Nandamuri Balakrishna (Gautamiputra Satkarni)

Best actor in a leading role (female): Kajal Agarwal (Nene Raju Nene Mantri)

Best actor in a leading role (female) critics: Rithika Singh (Guru)

Best actor in a supporting role (male): Aadhi Pinisetty (Ninnu Kori)

Best actor in a supporting role (female): Bhumika Chawla (MCA)

Best actor in a negative role: Rana Daggubati (Baahubali 2)

Best music director: MM Keeravani (Baahubali 2)

Best lyric writer: S Ashok Teja (Vachindey... Fidaa)

Best playback singer (male): VKaala Bhairava (Dandaalayyaa...Baahubali 2)

Best playback singer (female): Madhu Priya (Vachindey...Fidaa)

Best debutant actor (male): Ishan (Rogue)

Best debutant actor (female): Kalyani Priyadarshani (Hello)

Best debutant director: Sandeep Vanga (Arjun Reddy)

Best comedian: Rahul Ramakrishna (Arjun Reddy)

Best Cinematographer: Senthil Kumar (Baahubali 2)

KANNADA

Best film: Vijay Kirgandur (Raajakumara)

Best director: Santhosh Ananddram (Raajakumara)

Best actor in a leading role (male): Puneet Rajkumar (Raajakumara)

Best actor in a leading role (male) critics: Sri Murali (Mufti)

Best actor in a leading role (female): Shanvi Srivastava (Taarak)

Best actor in a leading role (female) critics: Sruthi Hariharan (Beautiful Manasugalu)

Best actor in a supporting role (male): Kashinath (Chowka)

Best actor in a supporting role (female): Bhavana Rao (Sathya Harishchandra)

Best actor in a negative role: Apeksha Purohit (Koffee Thota)

Best music director: V Harikrishna (Raajakumara)

Best lyric writer: Santhosh Ananddram (title song ... Raajakumara)

Best playback singer (male): Ravi Basrur (Chanda Chanda ... Anjaniputra)

Best playback singer (female): Anuradha Bhat (Appa I Love You ... Chowka)

Best debutant actor (male): Manoranjan (Saheba)

Best debutant actor (female): Ekta Rathod (Siliconn City)

Best debutant director: Tharun Sudhir (Chowka)

Best comedian: Sai Kumar (Happy New Year)

Best Cinematographer: Santhosh Rai Pataje (Chamak)

Special appreciation (child artist): Baby Shlaga Saligrama (Kataka)

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