AMONG KALAIMAMANI AWARDEES
The Tamil Nadu government announced the Kalaimamani awards for the years 2019 and 2020, on Friday, to felicitate 128 artistes from various fields such as actors, singers, directors, stunt masters, dance masters and so forth. The State award comes with a 40-gram gold medal along with a certificate
Along with the Kalaimamani award, Dr J Jayalalithaa
Special Kalaimamani award, All India award for veteran artistes living under poverty, were also announced
Many leading and reputed names were honoured with the prestigious distinction
Prominent among the awardees were actors Sivakarthikeyan, Aishwarya Rajesh, comedians Yogi Babu, Devadarshini, Madhumathi, director Gautam Vasudev Menon, producer Isari Ganesan
The Kalaimamani awards that are to be conferred every year, came to a halt in the year 2010 and no award was given thereafter till 2019
Prominent among the Dr J Jayalalithaa special Kalaimamani awardees were veteran actors Saroja Devi, Sowcar Janaki, P Susheela
For the year 2019, 59 artistes from various fields were chosen for the honour, while 65 were picked for the year 2020
The state government issued a Government Order (GO) announcing the distribution of Kalaimamani awards for the years 2019 and 2020, for 128 artists of various fields. The awards were announced based on the recommendations of the Commissioner of Arts and Culture department and from Tamil Nadu Iyal Isai Nadaga Manram. 128 artists from drama, dance, movies, serials, folk arts and other arts were selected by the state government for both years.
While 62 artists were selected for the year 2019, 66 artists were selected for the year 2020. Initially, the state government planned the award function on Saturday but was postponed. Prominent awardees for the year 2019 include actor Ramarajan, Director Liyakat Ali Khan, music director Dheena, Lyricist
Kamakodiyan, cameraman Ragunatha Reddy, background singers Anand, Sujatha, Producer Thanu, editor Antony stunt director Thalapathi Dinesh, choreographer Sivasankar, Director Manoj Kumar and so on.
Prominent awardees for the year 2020 include music director Imman, stunt director Jaguar Thangam, choreographer Sridhar, comedian Sangeetha, cameraman Chitrarasu, director and actor Ravi Maria and so on.
Along with Kalaimamani awards, state government also announced Dr J Jayalalithaa special Kalaimamani awards, national awards and Kalaimamani awards for veteran actors living in poverty. Earlier in 2019, the state government announced Kalaimamani awards for 201 artists for the years 2011 to 2018.