Film Critics awards announced

Thiruvananthapuram, Feb 2 (UNI): Santhosh Sivan's 'Ananthabhadram' has bagged the Atlas-Film Critics award 2005, announced here today.

The best director award also went to Santhosh Sivan for his film 'Ananthabhadram', Atlas Groups Chairman M M Ramachandran and Critics Association president Thekkinkad Joseph told reporters here.

Best actor award was shared by Dileep and Manoj K Jayan for 'Chanthupottu' and 'Ananthabhadram' respectively. Kavya Madhavan was best actress for her roles in 'Ananthabhadram' and 'Sheelavathi'.

Blesy's 'Thanmathra' and Hariharan's 'Paranju Thiratha Visheshangal' were the second best films.

While the best film gets cash prize of Rs one lakh, citation and a plaque, the second best film gets Rs 50,000, citation and a plaque.

Veteran actor Thilakan has been chosen for the Chalachitra Ratna award for his contribution to filmdom, they said.

They said the popular actor award went to Mohan Lal for his films 'Thanmatra' and 'Naran'.

While Lal got the second best actor award, Shoba Mohan got the second best actress award.

The other awards are Riya Jith (child actor), Aryadan Shaukat (story-screen play), M D Rajendran (lyrics), M G Sreekumar (playback singer), Sujatha (playback singer), Santhosh Sivan (cinematography) and Jogh Esthapan (debut director).