By Murtaza Ali

I havehad the pleasure of attending the10th edition of South Indian International Movie Awards (SIIMA), which was held in Bangalore on 10 – 11 September, 2022. The ambiance remained electrifying throughout the two days as the biggest names in Indian showbiz today made their presence felt at the 2022 SIIMA. No wonder, SIIMA holds such an important place in everyone’s hearts. It was launched in 2012 by Vishnu Vardhan Induri and Brinda Prasad Adusimilli to appreciate film makers from across the South Indian film industries. Over the last decade or so, SIIMA has only gone from the position of strength to strength to become one of the most sought after awards events in India.

While the first day of the two day event focused on Telugu and Kannada cinema, the second day of the awards function was dedicated to celebrating the best Tamil and Malayalam cinema.Adding to the glitter and glamour of the 10th edition of SIIMA, Bollywood actor Ranveer Singh marked his scintillating presence at the event alongside some of biggest names of Telugu and Kannada cinema including the likes of Allu Arjun, Yash, Vijay Deverakonda, Pooja Hegde, Darshan Thoogudeepa, Arvind Swamy, Silambarasan TR, and Kamal Haasan at the opening night. The stars to grace the festival on the second day of SIIMA included AneesBazmee, Arvind Swamy, Hansika Motwani, Siva Karthikeyan, Silambarasan TR, NidhhiAgerwal, and Tovino Thomas, among others.

Oozing with cinephilia and glamour, the star-studded extravaganza has been curated by Brinda Prasad Adusumilli and Vishnu Induri, for a span of two days in Bengaluru. Earlier, Brinda Prasad Adusumilli, who is also the chairperson of SIIMA, had announced the nominations for the films and music released in the 4 South Indian Languages viz. Telugu, Kannada, Malayalam and Tamil in 2021. Other than the regular awards, SIMMA also features some special honors for lifetime contributions and few special awards

The winners for Telugu and Kannada cinema were announced on the first day of SIIMA and the winners for the Tamil and Malayalam films were announced on the second and final day of SIIMA. The Best Film (Telugu) went to Pushpa: The Rise and the Best Film (Kannada) went to Garuda GamanaVrishabha Vahana. While Minnal Murali bagged the Best Film (Malayalam), SarpattaParambarai won the Best Film (Tamil).

As far as the top acting honors are concerned, the winners announced on the first day included Punneth Rajkumar, who was awarded Best Actor (Kannada) posthumously for Yuvarathnaa, AshikaRanganath, who won the Best Actress (Kannada) for Madhagaja, Pooja Hegde, who won the Best Actress award (Telugu), for Most Eligible Bachelor, Allu Arjun, who won the Best Actor award (Telugu), for Pushpa, Pramod, who bagged the Best Actor in a Supporting Role Award (Kannada) for RathnanPrapancha, Aarohi Narayan, who won the Best Actress in a Supporting Role (Kannada) for Drishya 2, Jagadeesh Prathap Bandari, who bagged the Best Actor in a Supporting Role Award (Telugu) for the film Pushpa – The Rise, and VaralaxmiSarathkumar, who won the Best Actress in a Supporting Role Award (Telugu) for the film Krack. The winners for Malayalam and Tamil cinema were announced on the second day of the festival. The winners included Kangana Ranaut, who won Best Actress (Tamil) for Thalaivii, Arvind Swamy, who won Best Actor in a Supporting Role (Tamil) for Thalaivii, Silambarasan TR, who won Best Actor (Tamil) for Maanaadu, Tovino Thomas, who bagged Best Actor (Tamil) for Minnal Murali and Kala, and Unnimaya Prasad, who bagged Best Actress in a Supporting Role (Malayalam) for Joji, among others.The winners had been chosen by an online voting system. As curtains come down on the 10th edition of SIIMA, my eyes are already set on the next edition which promises to be even bigger and grander.

(The author is an Indian critic and journalist who has been covering cinema, art and culture for over 10 years. He tweets at @MurtazaCritic).