Thiruvananthapuram: The Kerala State Film Awards for the year 2018 were announced by Minister of Cultural Affairs A K Balan here at a press conference on Wednesday.
“This is the third time that we are announcing the awards after LDF government came into power,” began Balan before the winners list were announced. Amid tight competition in the best actor category, the award was shared by actors Jayasurya and Soubin Shahir.
Here is the complete list of winners:
Best Actor - Jayasurya (Captain, Njan Marykutty) and Soubin Shahir (Sudani from Nigeria)
Best Actress - Nimisha Sajayan (Chola, Oru Kuprasidha Payyan)
Best Film – Kanthan: The Lover of Color
Second Best Film – Oru Njayarazhcha
Best Popular film: Sudani from Nigeria
Best Director - Shyamaprasad (Oru Njayarazhcha)
Best Debut Director – Zakariya Mohammed (Sudani from Nigeria)
Best Character Actor - Joju (Chola, Joseph)
Best Character Actress - Savithri Sreedharan and Sarasa Balussery (Sudani from Nigeria)
Best Script: Muhsin Parari and Zakariya (Sudani from Nigeria)
Best Music Director - Vishal Bharadwaj (Carbon)
Music Director for BGM - Bijibal (Aami)
Best Singer (Male) - Vijay Yesudas (Poomuthole)
Best Singer (Female) - Shreya Ghoshal (Nirmathalam)
Best Lyrics – Hari Narayanan (Joseph and Theevandi)
Best Cinematography - KU Mohanan (Carbon)
Best Editor- Aravind Manmadan
Best Sound Mixing - Sinoy Joseph (Carbon)
Best Sound Design - Jayadevan (Carbon)
Best sync sound - Anil Radhakrishnan (Carbon)
Best Story – Joy Mathew (Uncle)
Best Child Artist (Male) – Master Rithun (Appuvinte Sathyanweshanam)
Best Child Artist (Female) - Abani Adi (Panth)
Best Children's Movie - Ang Doore oru Deshath
Best Male Dubbing Artist -Shammi Thilakan (Odiyan)
Best Female Dubbing Artist - Sneha M (Lilli)
Best Make up - Ronex Xavier (Njan MaryKutty)
Best Costume Designer - Sameera Saneesh (Kammarasambhavam)
Best Art director - Vineesh Banglan (Kammarasambhavam)
Special Jury Award - Madhu Ambat (Cinematographer)
Special jury mention for: Direction- Santhosh Mandoor (Pani) and Sanal Kumar Sasidharan (Chola). Acting - KPAC Leela (Roudram)
Reportedly, 104 films, including 100 feature films and 4 children's movies, competed under various categories.
The Jury
The jury for the 49th Kerala State Film Awards was chaired by screenwriter and director Kumar Shahani. Sherry Govindan, George Joseph, K G Jayan, Mohandas, Vijayakrishnan, Biju Sukumaran, Berny-Ignatius and Navya Nair were among the jury members. P K Pokker was the chairman of the literary section in which Dr Jinesh Kumar Eramom and Saritha Varma were the members.