Filmfare Awards South


Filmfare Awards South is the South Indian segment of the annual Filmfare Awards, presented by the Filmfare magazine of The Times Group to honour both artistic and technical excellence of professionals in the South Indian film industry. The Tamil, Telugu, Malayalam and Kannada actors perform their talents on the stage. They were introduced in 1954, around the films released in 1952-53 and initially recognizing the Hindi film industry. In 1964 awards were extended to Best Picture in Tamil, Telugu, Bengali and Marathi, around the films released in 1963. The inclusion of Malayalam cinema in the awards came in 1967 while Kannada cinema was recognized in 1970. Each industry is given its own set of creative awards in annual ceremonies that have predominantly been held in Hyderabad and Chennai.

Superlatives

SuperlativeArtistRecord
Most individual winsKamal Haasan19 awards
Most individual nominationsShreya Ghoshal44 nominations
Most direction awardsK. Viswanath, K. Balachander8 awards
Most music direction awardsA. R. Rahman17 awards
Most acting awards – MaleKamal Haasan16 awards
Most acting awards – FemaleLakshmi7 awards
Most playback singer awards – MaleKarthik6 awards
Most playback singer awards – FemaleShreya Ghoshal10 awards

Records

Most Awards for a single film

Most Awards for Best Director

Most Awards for Best Actor

Most Awards for Best Actress

Most Awards for Best Actor - Critics

Most Awards for Best Actress - Critics

Most Awards for Best Supporting Actor

Most Awards for Best Supporting Actress

Most Awards for Music Direction

Most Awards for Male Singer

Most Awards for Female Singer

History

The awards were first given in 1953 and the ceremony used to be held along with Bollywood Filmfare Awards. The awards were being held in the Kalaivanar Arangam, Chennai. Later the ceremony shifted to the distinctive Music Academy.
In 1953 initially recognizing the Hindi film industry. In 1963 Awards extended to Best Picture in Telugu, Tamil, Bengali & Marathi, for the awards and from 1966 Malayalam films were added. Kannada films became a part of the event in 1969. In 1972 the awards were extended to Best Actor, Best Actress and Best Director categories in all south Indian films. The categories for Special Awards were introduced in the 1980s and Best Music Direction in 1990s. Lifetime Achievement Award – South was first given in 1983. Award for Best Male debut and Female debut were given irregularly during the same period. Categories for Best Male Playback Singing and Best Female Playback Singing were introduced in 1997. In 2002, awards for Best Supporting actors were given for Telugu and Tamil films. Since 2005, these awards were extended to the Malayalam and Kannada film industries. In the same year, additional categories such as Best Lyricist, Best Playback Singing were also introduced. Awards for Best Comedian were given from 2002 till 2006 and discontinued later.

Statuette

The statuette, depicting a woman whose arms uprise in a dance number with her fingers touching, is commonly referred to as "The Black Lady". Originally designed by N.G. Phansare under the supervision of Times of India's art director Walter Langhammer, it is generally made of bronze, its height is 46.5 cm and it weighs around five kg.
To celebrate the 25th year of the awards, the statues were made in silver and to celebrate the 50th year the statues were made in gold.

Prizes

As of 2006, there are a total of 10 categories across each of the four film industries.

Creative awards

Tamil cinema