Christina.Francis@timesgroup.com

G litz and glamour, pomp andshow, grit and glory, awardsand accolades — Godrej

Goldilocks SIIMA 2016, in its fifth edi-tion, had all the trappings of a perfectSouth Indian potboiler. If the red car-pet shenanigans of reigning divas oftinseltown set the temperatures soar-ing, the high octane naach-gaana anddrama on stage kept the entertain-ment quotient at an all-time high. Andof course, for all those who walkedaway with awards in hand, there wasa happy ending too.

Held at the swanky SuntecConvention and Exhibition Centre,Singapore, the two-day extravaganzathat celebrates South Indian cinemaand recognises talent from Tamil,Telugu, Malayalam and Kannada film industries got off to a glitzy starton Day 1, with Bhallaladeva RanaDaggubati welcoming Singapore’sSouth Indian diaspora in true filmyfashion, complete with a punch dia-logue. Taking the baton from himwere hosts for the evening, LakshmiManchu and Ali, who had the audi-ence in splits with their easy banterthrough the four-hour show.Sandalwood’s Akul brought in a freshdash of humour with his brilliant em-ceeing as well. The first evening,which awarded the best talent ofTelugu and Kannada films of 2015,saw a stellar attendance from starsacross the South, including matineeidols Chiranjeevi, Khushbu, Vikram,Suhasini, Rana, Allu Arjun, PuneethRajkumar, Nithya Menen, and more.Huma Qureshi’s presence addedBollywood glam to the do, while KabirBedi made an appearance to mark hisforay into South cinema. The stal-warts cheered on as veteran playbacksinger S Janaki was honoured with aLifetime Achievement award.

Brilliantly choreographed songand dance acts by Pragya Jaiswal,Pranitha Subhash and Rachita Ram

added a filmy tadkato the show. The high-light however wasSayeesha’s tribute tothe big four of Telugucinema —Chiranjeevi,Nagarjuna, Venkateshand Balakrishna. Inwhat was her first everstage performance, she shimmied tohit numbers of all four stalwarts andalso pulled off Chiru’s iconic ‘VeenaStep’ like no one else did before. DeviSri Prasad impressed with a high-en-ergy gig, which had the whole crowdon its feet.

Day 2, which was dedicated toTamil and Malayalam films, sawthe auditorium packed to ca-pacity with Singapore’smilling Tamil-speak-ing population.And keepingthem enter-tained were abunch of funnymen and lovelywomen — Shiva,Sateesh, Ranjini Haridasand Dhanya.

Star power on day two was stellartoo — with Vikram, Nivin Pauly,Prithviraj, Nayanthara, RadhikaApte and more making their presencefelt. Veteran filmmaker PanchuArunachalam was honoured with aLifetime Achievement award. Han-sika, Amyra Dastur, AishwaryaRajesh and Huma Qureshi put upsome sexy performances. Malay-alam star Neeraj Madhav was theonly male actor to perform; and heset some pretty high standards.The rockstar of the eveningthough was Anirudh. He made asmashing entry, complete with ex-otic dancers and dragons, and hadthe crowd on their feet for 10 wholeminutes; that too at 2.30 in themorning. It was a fitting finale tothe grand filmy weekend.

SENSATION OF THEYEAR: SUDHEER BABUSudheer Babu won the SouthIndian Sensation of the Yearaward. “It was always a dreamfor me to become an actor, and itwas a bigger dream for me to goto Bollywood. So you can imag-

ine how I felt when some-one from Bollywood actually comes lookingfor me, to cast me in aHindi film. It’s like adream within adream. And gettingan award called ‘sen-

sation of the year’ iseven more sensation-

al,” beamed Sudheer.

DSP SINGS FOR HIS DADThe usually boisterous Devi SriPrasad turned sombre when hewas asked to sing a few lines onstage after he picked up his awardfor Best Music Director (Telugu).“This is a song I wrote for my dad,and I dedicate this all those lovingdads out there who made this lifepossible for us…” he said, and

went on to croon a few lines ofNannaku Prematho… chok-

ing with emotion all thewhile.

8 TUESDAY 5 JULY 2016BACK BEATHYDERABAD TIMES, THE TIMES OF INDIA

Registration No. APENG/ 2000/5491, VOLUME No.16, ISSUE No. 285 Published for the proprietors,Bennett, Coleman & Co. Ltd., by Anil Kumar at TimesHouse, 8-2-351, Road No:3, Banjara Hills, Hyderabad- 500 034 and printed by him at Times Press, PlotNo.5A, Road No.1, IDA, Nacharam, Hyderabad - 500076, (Dist. Rangareddy). Tel No.(040) 23355335, Fax:(040) 23254300. Regd. office: Dr D.N. Road, Mumbai-400 001. Hyderabad Times Editor: Christina Francis —responsible for selection of news under PRB Act. Allrights reserved. Reproduction in whole or in partwithout written permission of the publisher isprohibited.

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The fifth edition of SIIMA held at Singapore wasnothing short of a blockbuster as the biggestmatinee idols of South Indian cinematurned up to take part in what was ascintillating celebration

CINEMA, SHENANIGANS AND SUPERSTARS:SIIMA 2016 WAS A SMASH HIT

MEGA MOMENT ON STAGEIn a fitting tribute to Chiranjeevi, a montage of highlights from the Megastar’s careerwas played on stage. But what made the moment truly special was when he was joinedby all his yesteryear heroines on stage, including Radikaa, with whom he’s done scoresof films and Suhasini. Taking him by surprise, Suhasini broke into a song: “Malli malli idiraani roju…” getting Chiru all moist-eyed. The Mega bonhomie ended with all theactors crowding around Chiru for a Mega selfie.

In Anirudh’s highlight act, hewent off the stage and did a li’ljig with almost everyone seat-ed among the guests. But AlluArjun took it one step furtherwhen he followed Anirudh’scue and got on stage with him,and broke into an impromptuteen maar dance, in totalTollywood mass style. Gottolove the Stylish Star for thesport that he is.

ALLU ARAVIND WAS THE VILLAIN IN RANA’S LIFEAfter recieving the award for Best Actor in a Negative Role from Allu Aravind forhis Bhalaladeva act in Bãhubali, Rana said, “I’m happy to receive this award fromyou, ’cos you are the villain in my life.” Then he looked at Chiranjeevi and added,amidst chuckles, “As kids, neither Charan was scared of you nor I was scared ofmy dad. But both of us were terrified of him. If we bunked a class or flunked anexam, he’d get to know and ensure everyone knew about it.”

SUHASINI HAS A WORD OFADVICE FOR ALI AND CO...Tired of the sexist nature of jokesdoled out by the men folk, led by Alion Day 1, and Shiva and Satheesh onDay 2, Suhasini made an interestingcomment: “You guys are doing an excellent job, keeping us all enterta-ined with your quick wit. But one request please — avoid poking fun atwomen and kids... that’s in bad taste.”Truer words were never spoken.

WINNERS■ BEST FILM | Bãhubali■ BEST ACTOR | Mahesh Babufor Srimanthudu■ BEST ACTRESS | Shruti Haasan forSrimanthudu■ BEST DIRECTOR | SS Rajamouli forBãhubali■ BEST ACTOR (Critics) | Allu Arjun forRudhramadevi■ BEST ACTRESS (Critics) | AnushkaShetty for Rudhramadevi■ BEST COMEDIAN | Vennela Kishore forBhale Bhale Magadivoy■ BEST DEBUTANT DIRECTOR | AnilRavipudi for Pataas■ BEST DEBUTANT ACTOR (Male) | Akhil Akkineni for Akhil■ BEST DEBUTANT ACTOR (Female) |Pragya Jaiswal for Kanche■ BEST MUSIC DIRECTOR | DSP for Srimanthudu■ MOST STREAMED SONG OF THE YEAR |DSP for Rama Rama for Srimanthudu■ BEST PLAYBACK SINGER (Male) | Simha for Cinema Chupista Maava fromRace Gurram■ BEST PLAYBACK SINGER (Female) |Satya Yamini for Mamatala Talli fromBãhubali■ BEST LYRICIST | SirivennelaSeetharama Sastry Kanche■ BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR (Male) |Rajendra Prasad for Srimanthudu■ BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR (Female) |Ramya Krishna for Bãhubali

■ BEST ACTOR IN A NEGATIVE ROLE |Rana Daggubati for Bãhubali■ BEST DANCE CHOREOGRAPHER |Jani for Temper■ BEST FIGHT CHOREOGRAPHER |Peter Heins for Bãhubali■ BEST CINEMATOGRAPHER | KKSenthil Kumar for Bãhubali ■ BEST DEBUTANT PRODUCER |

Vijay Kumar Reddy and SashidharReddy for Bhale Manchi Roju

■ LIFETIME ACHIEVEMENT AWARD | S Janaki■ YOUTH ICON OF SOUTH INDIA |Samantha

AKHIL GETS RAGGEDBY RANA ON STAGEAkhil, seemed to be in a hurryto get off the stage after collecting the Best Debutaward when Rana came onstage to pull a fast one aboutthe breaking news of Akkineniscion’s engagement. “How oldare you, bangaram?” askedRana to a baffled Akhil, whofumbled, “Er, 22…” An amused Rana continued, “Look at me, I’m 32 and Ihave not even thought of marriage yet. Look at that Bunny (Allu Arjun) overthere — the day he got married, he forgot all of us his friends. Will you alsoforget your friends…?” A visibly embarrassed Akhil retorted, “But you aren’tmy friend, are you…?” even as Rana broke out into peals of laughter.

STARRY, STARRY NIGHTS

Sayyeshaa Saigal doingthe iconic ‘Veena Step’

HumaQureshi

SudheerBabu

Rana takesthe Megaselfie

Hansika Motwani

Devi Sri Prasad

PragyaJaiswal

Dr CJ Roy,Confident Group

Rajesh Krishnamurthy,Himalaya Herbals

Y Guru, MD,Celkon Mobiles

ShriyaSaran

SamanthaNayanthara

Vikram Sushant

Tirumal ReddyBrinda Prasad,Chairperson SIIMA Bijay Mandhani Shruti Haasan

Rakul PreetSingh

ALLU ARJUNBREAKS INTO ATEEN MAAR DANCE

It rained performancesas the divas of

the Southvowed with

breathtakingdance acts

Pics: T Mallikarjun

Akhiland

Rana