Tamil Nadu government has announced its awards for excellence in cinema for the years 2005 and 2006 in various categories in a press announcement released today.

The award honors full-length Tamil movies and includes various categories namely Actor – Male, Actor – Female, and Technicians.

Besides, the government has also pronounced awards in the category ‘Kalaithurai Vithagar’ for significant contribution for Tamil cinema. Awards for students of Television and Film institute also have been announced. A panel of judges that included eminent personalities such as Justice Mohan, director S.P. Muthuraman, Sivakumar, Charuhaasan, Deva, and Sripriya scrutinized the movies. The best movie category award for the year 2005 is shared by Chandramukhi and Gajini followed by Anniyan and Davamai Davamirundu for the next two honors. Superstar Rajinikanth qualified for the best actor in male lead award and Jyothika for the best actor in female lead award both for their respective performances for Chandramukhi. Vijay, Surya and Meera Jasmine are conferred with the special jury awards. Harris Jeyaraj won the best music director award for his rendition in movies such as Anniyan and Gajini.

For the year 2006, Veyil bagged the best film award followed by Paruthi Veeran and Thiruttu Payale for the second and third prizes. Kamal haasan and Priya Mani are declared the best actor in male and female lead respectively. Special jury awards are bagged by Karthi, Pakru, and Sandhya. Yuvan Shankar Raja bagged the best music director award. Significant personalities who won the Kalaithurai Vithagar awards include Ajith Kumar the MGR award, Vikram the Sivaji Ganesan award, Vivek the Kalaivanar award, and Thangar Pachan the Raja sando award. The awards and cash prizes will be bestowed upon the individuals by Chief Minister Karunanidhi in an event in Chennai hosted by the government soon, the announcement read.