The South Indian Artists’ Association – a union of Tamil Nadu’s film industry members also known as Nadigar Sangam – boycotted the Filmfare Awards (South) this weekend after the organisers refused to pay a donation to the body, The News Minute reported. The awards were held at the Hyderabad International Convention Centre on Saturday. Nayanthara, Vijay Sethupathi and Karthi were among the Tamil actors who boycotted the event, the publication said. All three of them won acting awards at Saturday’s function.
The publication quoted Nadigar Sangam as saying that film award functions have acquired a “commercial twist” and are conducted to generate revenue for organisers, but the benefits are not passed on to actors. “Considering the above, it had been officially resolved in Nadigar Sangam special meeting that actors should participate only in functions in which they are paid, or only in functions where the organising entities contribute donations to Nadigar Sangam and Tamil Film Producer Council,” the association said.
The News Minute report said that the donation that the Nadigar Sangam had asked for ran into several lakhs.
Other award functions including the Behindwoods Gold Medals, Vijay TV Awards and Galatta Dot Com reportedly paid sums ranging between Rs 10 lakh and Rs 40 lakh to a trust run by the Nandigar Sangam. It This money is being used to provide health and educational aid to deserving members, the association claimed.
“This practice and decision has been communicated clearly to Filmfare Awards organisers in view of the function to be held in Hyderabad on June 16, 2018,” the association said. “Since the organisers of the event did not cooperate and come forth with any positive response, the same was communicated to our members.”
Meanwhile, Vikram Vedha emerged as the big winner among Tamil films at the 65th Jio Filmfare Awards (South), winning Best Director (Pushkar Gayathri) Best Actor in a Leading Role (Vijay Sethupathi) and Critics Award for Best Actor (R Madhavan). Gopi Nainar’s Aramm won Best Film and best actress (Nayanthara).
Baahubali 2: The Conclusion won best Telugu film, with SS Rajamouli winning Best Director. Vijay Deverakonda won Best Actor in a Leading Role (Male) for Arjun Reddy and Sai Pallavi won Best Actor in a Leading Role (Female) for Fidaa.
Raj B Shetty’s Ondu Motteya Kathe won best Kannada film, while Tarun Sudhir got the trophy for Best Director for Chowka. Puneet Rajkumar won Best Actor in a Leading Role (Male) for Rajakumara and Shruthi Hariharan got the best actress trophy for Beautiful Manasugalu.
Among Malayalam movies, Thondimuthalum Driksakshiyum won top honours including Best Film, Best Director (Dileesh Pothen) and Best Actor (Fahadh Faasil). Parvathy won Best Actor in a Leading Role (Female) for Take Off.