On Thursday, the Tamil Nadu government announced Kalaimamani Awards for 201 personalities, including writers, singers, dancers, musicians and actors, for their contribution to culture since 2011. The award had been defunct for the past seven years. Popular actors Vijay Sethupathi, Karthi, Prabhu Deva, Varalaxmi Sarathkumar are among the awardees.
The government also announced Bharathi Awards in the field of literature, MS Subbulakshmi Award in music and Bala Saraswathi Award in dance. An official statement said that each winning artiste will receive a 3 sovereign gold shield and a certificate.
C.V. Chandrasekar, Vaijayanthimala Bali and Mrs. and Mr. V.P. Dhananjayan will receive the Balasaraswathi award.
Playback singer S. Janaki, carnatic musicians Bombay Sisters C. Saroja and C. Lalitha, and T.V. Gopalakrishnan have been selected for M.S. Subbulakshmi Award. Each of them will receive ₹1 lakh and a citation, an official statement said. The Kalaimamani awardees will be honoured by the Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Edappadi K Palaniswamy at a function.
Here is a list of the awardees from Tamil film industry from 2011 – 2018:
2011
Actors: R Rajasekar, P. Rajiv alias P Rajasekar, Kutti Padmini, P Pandu
Choreographer: Puliyur Saroja
Playback Singer: B S Sasirekha
Costume Designer: P Kasi
2012
Actors: S S Senbagamuthu, T Rajashri, B R Varalaxmi
Playback Singer: Gana Ulaganathan
Director: Chitra Lakshmanan
Cinematographer: Babu alias N V Anandakrishnan
2013
Playback Singer: R Krishnaraj, Paravai Muniyamma, T Velmurugan
Actors: Prasanna, Nalini, R Pandiyarajan, Kumari Kanchana Devi, Sarada, T P Gajendran
Stunt choreographer: Judo K K Rathnam
2014
Actors: Ponvannan
Director: Suresh Krishna
Playback Singer: Malathi
Choreographer: N A Thara
Recommended
2015
Actors: Madhu Balaji, Prabhudheva
Directors: A N Pavithran
Music director: Vijay Antony
Lyricist: Yugabharathi
Cinematographer: R Rathinavelu
Playback Singer: Gana Bala
2016
Actors: Sasikumar, MS Bhaskar, Thambi Ramaiah, Soori
2017
Actors: Vijay Sethupathi, Priyamani, Singamuthu
Director: Hari
Music director: Yuvan Shankar Raja
Producer: Kalaignanam
2018
Actors: Srikanth, Santhanam
Producer: A M Rathnam
Cinematographer: Ravivarman
Playback Singer: Unni Menon