AND THE AWARD GOES TO... (2002 edition)

It is time now to reward the best of the fare that was offered during 2002. The awards here will be along the lines of the Academy Awards presentation in the US, with five nominations followed by declaration of the winner. The nominees will be listed in alpabetical order.

Note: As was the case with the 2002 yearly recap, these awards deal only with the movies that I watched between 1/1/02 and 12/31/02 (even if they were released in 2001). Deserving candidates that may have been released in 2002 but which I was able to watch only in 2003 will therefore not be considered. Ofcourse, they will make it to the awards presented in 2004.

BEST PICTURE

The nominees : Azhagi
Kadal Pookkal
Kannathil Muthamittaal
Kasi
Run

The Winner : Kannathil Muthamittaal

Manirathnam, who in the past has focussed on romance against a serious backdrop, selected two serious issues this time - a little's girl's search for her biological mother and the Sri Lankan conflict. This resulted in a strongly emotional journey that starkly exposed the troubled landscape in Sri Lanka while showcasing the girl's family's struggle to come to terms with her obsession. The song sequences were glorious but non-intrusive and the short romance between Madhavan and Simran was irresistably cute. One of Mani's best and quite easily, the best movie of the year.

BEST DIRECTOR

The nominees : Bharatiraja ( Kadal Pookkal )
Lingusamy ( Run )
Manirathnam ( Kannathil Muthamittaal )
Thankar Bachan ( Azhagi )
Vinayan ( Kasi )

The Winner : Manirathnam
Manirathnam's touch was unmistakable in several places as his camera followed Keerthana in her search for her mother. The little girl's obsessive search was made believable by his deft handling and he wonderfully captured her parents' dilemma of whether to help or discipline her. He brought the dangerous lives of the Sri Lankans before our eyes and the scene where the family is caught in the crossfire was truly claustrophobic. The touchingly poetic ending capped off the wonderful film.

BEST ACTOR

The nominees : Ajith( Villan )
Parthiban ( Azhagi ) Prakashraj ( Dhaya )
Prashanth( Thamizh )
Vikram ( Kasi )

The Winner : Vikram
A lot of physical pain obviously went into Vikram's portrayal of the blind but endearingly naieve Kasi and that only added to the sincerity of his portrayal. With only the whites of his eyes showing, it was a wonderfully studied performance and Vikram had the all-important body language to go along with it. His performance was key to the sympathy the character generated without ever resorting to tears or sentimental outpourings.

BEST ACTRESS

The nominees : Keerthana ( Kannathil Muthamittaal )
Nandita Das ( Azhagi )
Rathi ( Solla Marandha Kadhai )
Sneha( Virumbukiren )
Simran ( Kannathil Muthamittaal )

The Winner : Nandita Das
Nandita Das, the talented North Indian actress, brought alive the silent yearnings of the heroine effortlessly in Azhagi. Her expressive eyes conveyed a whole gamut of emotions, whether sad at being wedded against her wishes or dreaming about the life she had missed. Her sorrow at being unable to feed her son was genuine and tugged at our heartstrings and her admonishment of Parthiban, while being guilty of harboring the same memories, was superbly done.

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR

The nominees : Balachandra Menon ( Album )
Krishna ( Five Star )
Manoj ( Kadal Pookkal )
Nasser ( Virumbukiren )
'Pyramid' Natrajan ( Solla Marandha Kadhai )

The Winner : Manoj
Bharatiraja finally gave his son Manoj a role that suited his gruff exterior instead of trying to saddle him with the romantic, loverboy role. Manoj responded well, bringing his character alive in all its shades of gray. His anger at his sister was natural and he brought out well, his helpness at having to cheat his friend in order to save his family's honor.

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS

The nominees : Devayani ( Azhagi )
Eeswari Rao ( Virumbukiren )
Kanishka ( Five Star )
Kavya Madhavan ( Kasi )
Urvasi ( Thamizh )

The Winner : Kavya Madhavan
Kavya Madhavan, the Malayalam actress who played the same role in the original, effortlessly earned our sympathy as she was exploited heartlessly by Rajeev and his friend. She played the chirpy, affectionate sister to perfection, which only made the transformation to the silent, tortured woman even more heartbreaking.

BEST VILLAIN

The nominees : Rajeev ( Kasi )
'Pepsi' Vijayan ( Villan )
Kalabhavan Mani ( Gemini )
Nasser ( Thamizh )
Vijayan ( Ramanaa )

The Winner : Kalabhavan Mani
This was a tough category this time with different kinds of villainy on display. But Kalabhavan Mani's uniqueness ultimately won over 'Pepsi' Vijayan's sheer terrifying face and actions and Rajeev's wolf-in-sheep's-clothing turn. Mani's mimickry skills were on full display as he imitated various animals and added a new dimension to his otherwise standard role of the dada. With his malleable face and agile body, he put on quite a show and while not scary, he was definitely entertaining.

BEST COMEDIAN

The nominees : Charlie ( Thenkaasi Pattanam )
Dhamu ( Punnagai Desam )
Karunas ( Nandhaa )
Vadivelu ( Thamizh )
Vivek ( Run )

The Winner : Vivek
Vivek, who wasn't particularly noticeable during most of the year, staked his claim to this award for the third year running with a wonderful performance in Run. With the flimsiest of links to the main story, he had us doubled up in laughter as he earned his due for all the insults he had heaped on his father. The nods to current social events were present as always and the storyline that had him imitate Kamalhassan in Moondraam Pirai was a stroke of brilliance.

BEST MUSIC DIRECTOR

The nominees : A.R.Rahman ( Kannathil Muthamittaal )
Ilaiyaraja ( Azhagi )
Bharadwaj ( Gemini )
Vidyasagar ( Run )
Yuvan Shankar Raja ( )

The Winner : Vidyasagar
After a couple of lacklustre years, I feel that Tamil cinema music has seen a resurgence lately with several movies boasting of good soundtracks. Consequently, this was the toughest of the categories this year. The hugely underrated Vidyasagar, who has never been a top name in Tamil music inspite of several chartbusters, came roaring back with Run. All the tracks were wonderfully catchy and suited the youthfulness and fast pace of the movie. While the most influential song of the year would definitely be O Podu..., Run had a much better overall soundtrack and the music had a big impact on the movie's success too.

BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY

The nominees : Ravi K. Chandran ( Kannathil Muthamittaal )
Ramji ( Mounam Pesiyadhe )
Thankar Bachan( Azhagi )
Jeeva ( Run )
Sethu Sriram ( Samurai )

The Winner : Ravi K. Chandran
Gorgeous cinematography is an essential part of Manirathnam's movies and Kannathil Muthamittaal is no exception. The gorgeously peaceful locales in the song sequences and the contrastingly violent locations of the conflict were brought alive by Ravi K. Chandran's camera. He also unobtrusively captured the scenes with Keerthana's family and some interesting tricks were employed for the Sundari... song sequence.

The nominees :	Azhagi Kadal Pookkal Kannathil Muthamittaal Kasi Run
The Winner :	Kannathil Muthamittaal

The nominees :	Bharatiraja ( Kadal Pookkal ) Lingusamy ( Run ) Manirathnam ( Kannathil Muthamittaal ) Thankar Bachan ( Azhagi ) Vinayan ( Kasi )
The Winner :	Manirathnam
Manirathnam's touch was unmistakable in several places as his camera followed Keerthana in her search for her mother. The little girl's obsessive search was made believable by his deft handling and he wonderfully captured her parents' dilemma of whether to help or discipline her. He brought the dangerous lives of the Sri Lankans before our eyes and the scene where the family is caught in the crossfire was truly claustrophobic. The touchingly poetic ending capped off the wonderful film.

The nominees :	Ajith( Villan ) Parthiban ( Azhagi ) Prakashraj ( Dhaya ) Prashanth( Thamizh ) Vikram ( Kasi )
The Winner :	Vikram
A lot of physical pain obviously went into Vikram's portrayal of the blind but endearingly naieve Kasi and that only added to the sincerity of his portrayal. With only the whites of his eyes showing, it was a wonderfully studied performance and Vikram had the all-important body language to go along with it. His performance was key to the sympathy the character generated without ever resorting to tears or sentimental outpourings.

The nominees :	Keerthana ( Kannathil Muthamittaal ) Nandita Das ( Azhagi ) Rathi ( Solla Marandha Kadhai ) Sneha( Virumbukiren ) Simran ( Kannathil Muthamittaal )
The Winner :	Nandita Das
Nandita Das, the talented North Indian actress, brought alive the silent yearnings of the heroine effortlessly in Azhagi. Her expressive eyes conveyed a whole gamut of emotions, whether sad at being wedded against her wishes or dreaming about the life she had missed. Her sorrow at being unable to feed her son was genuine and tugged at our heartstrings and her admonishment of Parthiban, while being guilty of harboring the same memories, was superbly done.

The nominees :	Balachandra Menon ( Album ) Krishna ( Five Star ) Manoj ( Kadal Pookkal ) Nasser ( Virumbukiren ) 'Pyramid' Natrajan ( Solla Marandha Kadhai )
The Winner :	Manoj
Bharatiraja finally gave his son Manoj a role that suited his gruff exterior instead of trying to saddle him with the romantic, loverboy role. Manoj responded well, bringing his character alive in all its shades of gray. His anger at his sister was natural and he brought out well, his helpness at having to cheat his friend in order to save his family's honor.

The nominees :	Devayani ( Azhagi ) Eeswari Rao ( Virumbukiren ) Kanishka ( Five Star ) Kavya Madhavan ( Kasi ) Urvasi ( Thamizh )
The Winner :	Kavya Madhavan
Kavya Madhavan, the Malayalam actress who played the same role in the original, effortlessly earned our sympathy as she was exploited heartlessly by Rajeev and his friend. She played the chirpy, affectionate sister to perfection, which only made the transformation to the silent, tortured woman even more heartbreaking.

The nominees :	Rajeev ( Kasi ) 'Pepsi' Vijayan ( Villan ) Kalabhavan Mani ( Gemini ) Nasser ( Thamizh ) Vijayan ( Ramanaa )
The Winner :	Kalabhavan Mani
This was a tough category this time with different kinds of villainy on display. But Kalabhavan Mani's uniqueness ultimately won over 'Pepsi' Vijayan's sheer terrifying face and actions and Rajeev's wolf-in-sheep's-clothing turn. Mani's mimickry skills were on full display as he imitated various animals and added a new dimension to his otherwise standard role of the dada. With his malleable face and agile body, he put on quite a show and while not scary, he was definitely entertaining.

The nominees :	Charlie ( Thenkaasi Pattanam ) Dhamu ( Punnagai Desam ) Karunas ( Nandhaa ) Vadivelu ( Thamizh ) Vivek ( Run )
The Winner :	Vivek
Vivek, who wasn't particularly noticeable during most of the year, staked his claim to this award for the third year running with a wonderful performance in Run. With the flimsiest of links to the main story, he had us doubled up in laughter as he earned his due for all the insults he had heaped on his father. The nods to current social events were present as always and the storyline that had him imitate Kamalhassan in Moondraam Pirai was a stroke of brilliance.

The nominees :	A.R.Rahman ( Kannathil Muthamittaal ) Ilaiyaraja ( Azhagi ) Bharadwaj ( Gemini ) Vidyasagar ( Run ) Yuvan Shankar Raja ( )
The Winner :	Vidyasagar
After a couple of lacklustre years, I feel that Tamil cinema music has seen a resurgence lately with several movies boasting of good soundtracks. Consequently, this was the toughest of the categories this year. The hugely underrated Vidyasagar, who has never been a top name in Tamil music inspite of several chartbusters, came roaring back with Run. All the tracks were wonderfully catchy and suited the youthfulness and fast pace of the movie. While the most influential song of the year would definitely be O Podu..., Run had a much better overall soundtrack and the music had a big impact on the movie's success too.

The nominees :	Ravi K. Chandran ( Kannathil Muthamittaal ) Ramji ( Mounam Pesiyadhe ) Thankar Bachan( Azhagi ) Jeeva ( Run ) Sethu Sriram ( Samurai )
The Winner :	Ravi K. Chandran
Gorgeous cinematography is an essential part of Manirathnam's movies and Kannathil Muthamittaal is no exception. The gorgeously peaceful locales in the song sequences and the contrastingly violent locations of the conflict were brought alive by Ravi K. Chandran's camera. He also unobtrusively captured the scenes with Keerthana's family and some interesting tricks were employed for the Sundari... song sequence.