Following the successful stint of the first edition of JFW movie awards, we are back and honored to be continuing the journey ahead. Bringing to light more women of the Tamil film industry, crowning them for their grace and talent and for capturing the hearts of millions.
Applauding the women who represent the community on-screen and off-screen, portraying powerful characters, leaving behind imprints that last forever. The winners were adjudged in 18 categories, based on their work in Tamil cinema from 2019. 12 out of the 18 winners are selected based on an online voting system. With a lot of pride and encouragement, here are the awardees who set the bar too high in the 2019 Tamil cinema.
Aishwarya Rajesh (Best Actress – Critic For NammaVeettuPillai)
Aishwarya Rajesh began her career with small budget films. Today, she has built herself an empire in the South film industry. Through her pure dedication and talent, she has become the choice of many A-list directors like Mani Ratnam, Vetrimaran and Gautam Menon, to name a few. Her role as a Sri Lankan Tamil, Renu stood as an outshining portrayal in Mani Ratnam’s multistarrer Chekka Chivandha Vaanam and the role of Padma in Vada Chennai left us all awestruck. Her success continued in 2019 when she made a promising debut in Tollywood with Kousalya Krishnamoorthy. Actress Aishwarya Rajesh won the Best Actress – Critic award for her role in Namma Veetu Pillai starring Sivakarthikeyan, where she convincingly and endearingly played the role of the protagonist’s sister.
Jyothika (Best Actress Women-Centric Film For Raatchasi)
Jyothika has been in the film industry for more than two decades now, and one could easily say she is the most versatile actor of South Cinema. A daredevil who does not shy away from any role, be it playing an antagonist, commercial, comic, romance, she can and has delivered her outstanding performance in every character she plays. In the 2019 film Raatchassi, she portrays the role of Geetha Rani – an ex-military woman turned headmistress – flawlessly just like she did as Vasanthi in 36 Vayadhiniley and Prabha in Magalir Mattum. Jyothika looks fierce as she fights her enemies. Her character development is beautiful; she is strong, fearless yet sensitive and beautiful at heart.
Shraddha Srinath (Best Actress Critic For NerkondaPaarvai)
Shraddha Srinath has never failed to perform par excellence in the films she acts. Be it ‘U-turn’ or ‘Vikram Vedha’, she holds her own even within a high-profile cast. Her choices of scripts are impeccable and the latest success is ‘Nerkonda Paarvai’, a remake of ‘Pink’ which stars Ajith Kumar in the lead as well. Her performance sent shudders and she was widely applauded, especially for her courtroom scenes. Her depth, emotions, and diligence in her role as Meera Krishnan delivered the movie’s strong message to the mass audience. There’s the rare subtlety in her performance that reinforces the idea of having more women-lead films down South.
Megha Akash (Best Debutante For Enai Nokki Pavum Thota)
To star in a Gautham Menon film is a dream opportunity reserved only for the best. And this opportunity rightly found its way to Megha Akash right at the beginning of her Kollywood film journey. She did complete justice to her role and made people fall in love with the gentle, vulnerable yet bold Lekha of Ennai Nokki Pavum Thota. With her laughs, her smile, her dialogue delivery and her emotions on screen, MeghaAkash has quite a large amount of fan following from her very first Tamil film.
Revathi (Best Actress – Comic Role For Jackpot)
With decades in the industry, Revathi is known for breathing life into every role she’s ever taken up. In 2019 Revathi won our hearts in the comic-caper Jackpot. Her fun and quirky performance took the audience on an adventurous, humorous roller coaster ride. Revathi was seen playing a full-fledged, commercial storyline along with Jyothika. In a wonderful twist, Jyotika and Revathi are seen cracking some jokes and breaking the bones of the bad boys with flying kicks and punches.
Manju Warrier (Best actress in a Lead Role)
ManjuWarrier made her acting debut at the young age of 17. Over the years she established herself as the superstar of the Malayalam film industry and became the forefront of South cinema. 2019 has been an incredible year for Manju Warrier. She continued her success in Mollywood with the release of Mohanlal blockbuster Lucifer, which grossed around 200 crores worldwide, making it the highest-grossing Malayalam film ever. She also managed to strike gold with her first venture into Kollywood with the Vetrimaaran-Dhanush collaboration Asuran. Though it was a star-studded movie with a brilliant cast, one can never miss or fail to feel the impact left by Manju Warrier’s embodiment of Pachaiyamal. The strength, depth, and rawness she brought out gave life to the character as a brave fierce, woman who willing to do anything for the safety of her family.
Vijay Sethupathi (Special Recognition Award)
Among the shinning women we have one special award to recognise the Man of the Year! An actor we love an actor who inspires and the one who gave life to the character Shilpa who will remain in our hearts forever. Special Recognition Award was presented to actor Vijay Sethupathi for his commendable performance as the inimitable Shilpa in Super Deluxe. Someone who has won our admiration over the years by picking the most challenging roles and acing them. Actor Vijay Sethupathi’s role in Super Deluxe was ground breaking and a highlight to his venture into responsible film making.
Ammu Abhirami – Best Supporting Actress For Asuran
At a young age of 18, Ammu Abhirami started her venture into Kollywood with the most interesting scripts and challenging roles. Her roles have always been significant and deep, be it playing the school kid who escapes the grip of the psycho killer in Ratsasaan or the love interest of Danush, Marriyammal in Assuran. Irrelevant of her screen time she always leaves behind a lingering impact in the minds of the people with her raw, natural outstanding performance.
Anikha Surendran – Best Child Artist, for Viswasam
Anikha debuted as a child artist in the Malayalam film Kadha Thodarunnu. What made her massive success in Kollywood was her film with Ajith Kumar titled Yennai Arindhal directed by Gautham Vasudev Menon. She was adored and warmly welcomed into Tamil cinema, earning even more recognition with her recent role yet again as Ajith and Nayanthara’s daughter in the film Viswasam. Anikha’s role was powerful, meaty and she also turned out to be quite the social media sensation. This 15-year-old is steadily making her niche in the South film industry with her charm and impeccable talent today having done 15 films and a series titled QUEEN in just 10 years. Talk about prodigy!
Sadhana – Best Child Artist – Critic, for Peranbu
Sadhana Venkatesan is director Ram’s vision and this 15-year-old has excelled in her skill already. With her role as Chellama in Thanga Meengal, we thought this young teenager had peaked too soon, until we met her again as Paapa in the film Peranbu, starring Mammooty and Anjali. The transition from a girl to a woman when brought up by a single father, was effectively conveyed through her performance. It deservingly drew the attention of critics, receiving wide acclaim and it was noted that the way she internalised the character showed clear skill in the craft as well as a passion for the art.
Archana Kalpathi (Woman Producer Of The Year For Bigil)
In an industry that has always been male-centric, Archana Kalpathi, producer of the box-office hit Bigil, is a woman who has carved out a niche for herself. It’s a woman’s world too and there’s no reason why there shouldn’t be an equal number of women filmmakers and film producers. A revered film producer in her own right, she is also the CEO of AGS Cinema. From her very first project to her recent distribution assignment for Kabali, to producing Bigil, she has had her A-game on throughout.
Deepa Venkat (Best Dubbing Artist For Game Over)
A popular RJ and television actress, DeepaVenkat’s popularity grew leaps and bounds when she started dubbing. Just in 2019, she has dubbed for around 15 movies, a few are Viswasam, Bigil, Mr Local, Airaa for Nayanthara, Comaali Kajal Agarwal and Game Over Tapsee Pannu. A talent that involves adding more personality to an individual merely done through voice and getting each modulation right, mirroring the body language, DeepaVenkat continues to be looked at as one of Tamil cinema’s finest dubbing artists of this generation.
Halitha Shameen( Woman Director Of The Year For Sillukarpati)
Director Halitha Shameem of Sillu karupatti is a dream for every woman and young girl out there who wish to venture into filmmaking. An Indian film director, screenwriter, and editor, Halitha is a storyteller who is known to weave in emotions and connect to every story she tells. Sillu Karupatti was applauded widely for its simple storytelling, for its ability to showcase profound reality in a casual way. Her success in the film will pave the way to many filmmakers to do anthology films, a genre yet to have experimented in Kollywood. Halitha made her Tamil cinema debut in 2014 with Poovarasam Peepee. Her upcoming film is Aelay, which reunites her with actors Samuthirakani and Manikandan.
Raatchasi (Best Women Centric Film Of The Year)
An ex-military woman Geetha Rani (Jyothika) becomes the headmistress of a government school situated in a remote location down South of Tamil Nadu. The state of the school’s facilities and quality of education deeply disturbs her. As she faces various obstacles from private schools and politicians, how Geetha Rani helps students and teachers identify themselves with class and quality is the storyline of the film. Produced by S.R. Prabhu, this film is a power-packed film that revolves around a strong woman who is the face of change.
Vivek (Special Recognition Award For Singepenne)
Lyricist Vivek was the man behind the song that was dedicated to women in all her glorious feisty forms; a mother, a daughter, a wife, a sister but most importantly a fighter, Singapeeney was a call for all the sheros/superwomen out there! After making his debut in Enakkul Oruvan, he received critical acclaim for his work in 36 Vayadhinile, Jil Jung Juk, Mersal, Sarkar, and Bigil. Lyricist Vivek was awarded special recognition for penning down the wonderful Singappenney song in Bigil.
Ezhilmathy (Best Costume Designer Of The Year For Super Deluxe)
Some are born creative, some strive on with discipline; and then there’s costume designer Ezhilmathy, who senses the importance of both. She is centered, she is intelligent, but most importantly, she is extremely talented. Ezhilmathy was the costume designer in Thyagaraja Kumararaja’s Super Deluxe starring Vijay Sethupathi, Samantha Akkineni, Fahadh Faasil, Mysskin, and Ramya Krishnan. From using battery prints on an Ice Cream man’s shirt to a scrunchie on Samantha’s wrist, she is one of those rare designers who depicts characters as credible, yet deep. The way she has impeccably styled each character in the film Super Deluxe added to the success of the movie.
SY Gowtham Raj (Best Director – Women Centric Film For Raatchasi)
The fact that SY Gowtham Raj Debut film is Raatchasi says a lot about him. In a time where commercial movies are the safe play for a hit, he chose to venture into the film industry with a strong, powerful women-centric film like Raatchasi. For the film, Gowthamraj interacted with several school teachers and books to pen the script. Raatchasi was also a social film that spoke about the current situation of government schools in Tamil Nadu. A box-office hit, SY Gowtham has begun his directorial venture in the most inspiring way.
Shasha Tripathi (Best Singer Visiri)
A playback singer, songwriter, music producer, motivational speaker, theatre actor, and voice-over artist, Shasha Tirupati has rendered songs in over 13 languages with more than 200 songs to her credit as a vocalist. Her duet with Sid Sriram, Visiri, from Ennai Nokki Paayum Thotta, was easily one among the most loved songs in 2019. Her melodious voice captures the essence of the story’s fairy tale romance. She is also the female voice behind “Singepenney” from Bigil.
Thamari (Best Lyricist For Kannaana Kanney from Viswasam )
Thamarai is a Tamil lyricist, poet, writer, and former journalist. She is the genius behind evergreen songs like Vaseegara from Minnale, all songs from Kaakha Kaakha and Vaaranam Aayiram, to the latest Kannaana Kanney from Viswasam and songs from Ennai Nokki Paavum Thota. Articulate and detail-oriented, Thamari has a keen sensibility to word emotions and happenings around the world in the most beautiful and soulful ways. With a long spanning carrier in the film industry of two decades, she continues to write songs that we all would eventually fall in love with and play on in repeat.