Two instances drew attention at the recent Sixth Vijay TV Film Awards, 2012 — Vairamuthu competing with son Madan Karky, also a nominee for the Award for Best Lyricist, and emerging winner, and the father-son duo of the illustrious singer S. P. Balasubramaniam and S.P. Charan, receiving the statuettes for their song for Aadukalam . The proud fathers acknowledged their sons' capabilities in inimitable style. While Vairamuthu felt a father putting up a stiff fight against his son and turning up trumps isn't easy, the ever-modest SPB said that he didn't know until much later after the recording that Charan had also been brought in for the song. “I thought Prakash had found me wanting and had asked Charan to chip in,” he smiled, as he pulled his son towards him. G.V. Prakash explained: “Adding Charan's voice was an afterthought done for better effect and I was very happy when he obliged. Incidentally, this is my first song with the great SPB.” K. Balachander presented the award to Vairamuthu, and Prakash Raj to SPB and Charan.
More plaudits and a greater moment were in store for SPB that evening at the Nehru Indoor Stadium, where the brightly lit stage and the colourful décor exemplified the grandeur of the event. The glitterati of Tamil cinema had gathered in large numbers. SPB was also chosen for the prestigious Chevalier Sivaji Ganesan Award for his stupendous achievement, and doing the honours was the colossus of Tamil cinema, Kamal Haasan. In fact, Kamal was the first recipient of the Award, five years ago. In typical style SPB observed, “There are many others who deserve this trophy, but I've been chosen. I feel both blessed and humbled.” Joining him on stage along with Kamal Haasan, were Prabhu, veteran actor and son of Sivaji Ganesan, and A. R. Rahman.
Gibran, the music director of Vaagai Sooda Vaa was adjudged the Best Find of the Year — a well-deserved recognition. His unforgettable melody, ‘Sara Sara Saara Kaathu …' has been on everyone's lips ever since it came out. The extraordinary verses got Vairamuthu the second Vijay award, and for Chinmayee, The Best Female Singer honour.
Trailers of Viswaroopam
The evening was marked by a plethora of highlights. But topping it all were the trailers — not one, but three — of Kamal Haasan's much-awaited magnum opus that has probably been the stepping stone for his collaboration with Barrie M Osborne. The samples conveyed enough about the riveting action in store, in milieus hitherto unseen in our films. “ Viswaroopam will speak Tamil, and pardon me, English too,” smiled Kamal, a subtle addendum that indicated the global reach he envisages. Flanked by his heroines in the film, Pooja Kumar and Andrea Jeremiah, he fielded queries from emcees Gopinath and Siva Karthikeyan. The best was, “Are you a good person or bad?” (A piece of dialogue in one of the teasers) “Depends on the collections Viswaroopam makes,” was the immediate reply.
Talking about the emcees, actor-anchor Siva Karthikeyan scored with his spontaneity. Uninhibited anchoring skills are his forte. Gopinath was a close second.
Always spreading cheer from wherever they are, brothers Venkat Prabhu and Premji never fail to evoke laughter with their witticisms. That evening, the two were seen sporting black tees with the lettering Best Director and Best Actor, and when Siva and Gopinath asked them about it, they said, “You are not going to award us, so we thought we'll proclaim it ourselves.”
Vijay TV intelligently alternated the presentation ceremony (a set of awards were given away at one go) with a song and dance sequence, after which the next round of awards was taken up. Hence there wasn't much gap between the announcement of one award and the other.
It was P.C. Sreeram who was first called upon to felicitate the awardees in the technicians' category, and with it the evening's fare was set in motion. PC requested Santhosh Sivan to join him.
The entertainment section included an item with devotional flavour by the Prince Dance Academy, actor Anjali's fast-paced footwork for a medley and an elegant dance number by Shriya Saran.
The jimmy jib may have moved frighteningly close to the audience, minor technical hiccoughs may have occurred here and there, but oblivious to the hindrances the invitees continued to be engrossed in the happenings on stage. Even an hour before midnight, not many showed an inclination to leave. Such is the draw of cinema, not to forget the organising ability of Vijay!
If Vijay TV's publicity vehicle, Rasigan Express, went around major cities collecting votes from the public for the ‘Favourite Hero and Heroine' categories, the jury comprising K. S. Ravikumar, Yugi Sethu, Nadiya, Lizzy Priyadarshan and cinematographer Ratnavel selected the winners in the various other departments.
Favourite Hero: Ajith
Favourite Heroine: Anushka
Best Film: Ko
Best Director: Vetrimaran (Aadukalam)
Best Actor (Male): Vikram (Deiva Thirumagal)
Best Actor (Female): Anjali (Engeyum Eppodhum)
