With an extravagant setup and impressive guest list, JFW hosted the prestigious 12th edition of its VBJ JFW Achievers Awards on October 8th, 2022 in Chennai. This year, the celebrated women awardees, Kovai Sarala, Nadiya Moidu, PG Sudha, CA Bhavani Devi, Anupama Kumar, LR Easwari, Nithyasree Mahadevan and DD Neelakandan were felicitated for their excellence in their respective areas of expertise. The event was hosted by Mirchi Vijay and Anjana. They kept the audience thoroughly engaged with their timely comebacks and sense of humour!
About The Awardees:
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Nadiya Moidu:
Nadiya is a name that evokes instant joy and excitement along with loud applauses and cheers. Over the years, she has given us several stellar performances in various South Indian languages and has been an audience favorite since her very first film. The actress received the Excellence in Cinema award for her contribution to Cinema. She was presented the award by Actor Rahman along with Mr Jithendra Vummidi, MD, Vummidi Bangaru Jewellers, and it was highly nostalgic to watch the popular on-screen pair of Nadiya and Rahman recounting their shoot days.
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Anupama Kumar Vijay Anand (Anupama Vriksham):
It is not too often that we find someone who uses Social Media for a good cause. Anupama Kumar Vijay Anand has put her Social Media following to worthy use by educating her followers about Pregnancy and motherhood. An internationally certified Childbirth and Pregnancy educator, Anupama has officially guided 10,000 mothers under her initiative and has conducted hundreds-plus offline and online classes. She has also donated 6 litres of Breast milk for those in need. She was presented with the Digital Change Maker award. She received the award from Madan Gowri, a fellow social media influencer, and Actress Poornima Bhagyaraj who spoke about motherhood. Sai Chitra, Chief Product Officer of Tamil Matrimony also presented the award along to her.
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Nithyasree Mahadevan:
Nithyashree Mahadevan is a singer who has captured audiences for 35 years with her magical voice, not only with Carnatic renditions but also with Cinema songs. While she captured the hearts of Carnatic music lovers with her traditional and thematic Katcheris, she also made a place for herself in the Cinema world by singing AR Rahman’s classics such as Kannodu Kaanbadhelaam and Minsara Poove among others. She was presented the JFW Award for Excellence in Music by her dear friend and fellow singer, Srinivas. The two then sang their iconic song Minsara Poove, on stage together. Mr. Kathiravan, MD of Vinisha Vision was also on stage to present the award.
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Kovai Sarala:
Kovai Sarala has been entertaining us with her effortless humour for 40-plus years now. She started her career with a small supporting role in Velli Ratham back in 1979. Having done more than 300 films, she is now an Actor who is known for an unmatched standard of comedy and entertainment. To celebrate her unmatched contribution to entertainment and comedy she was presented the Excellence in Entertainment Award. The award was presented to her by Actor Jayaram who recounted several funny incidents and mimicked her early days dialogues on stage. Mrs Anuradha Niranjan of VVD and Sons Pvt Ltd presented the award along with Actor Jayram.
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L R Easwari:
A voice that has managed to mesmerize and captivate listeners for over 70 years now! That is LR Easwari for you. Her ‘Thulluvadho Illamai’ in her reverberating voice and her ‘Kaadhodu Dhaan Naan Paduven’ in her mellifluous voice has proven that she can sing all kinds of songs. Her ‘Yelantha Pazham’ from Panama Pasama is a song that stands out even now. Her repertoire of devotional songs includes the iconic “Karpoora Nayagi” and “Chellatha” that is played early in the morning in most Amman temples. For her incomparable contribution to the Music industry, L R Easwari was honoured with the JFW Lifetime Achievement Award. Director Bhagyaraj and Music Director Santhosh Narayanan presented her the award. The latter shared that he was a big fan of the singer. Easwari then sang Kadhodu Dhaan Naan Paduven that had the audience cheer out loud.
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PG Sudha:
Sectional Forest Officer PG Sudha managed to single-handedly supervise and facilitate the building of not one or two but 497 toilets across nine tribal colonies in the Kattampuzha range in Kerala’s Ernakulam district. The highlight of it all, she completed this within a record time of just 3 months. For her selfless grit and the formidable force that she is for the Tribal community, she was presented with the JFW Award for Excellence in Public Service. The award was presented to her by Actress Ramya Pandian, Actress Pavithra Lakshmi and the MD of Prithvi Innerwears, Mr Balan. Ramya Pandian who acted in the Tamil film Joker which centred around the need for toilets shared her shoot experience and recounted how people in the areas they shot the movie still did not have toilets in their homes.
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Dhivyadarshini Neelakandan:
DD’s journey started in her teenage years when she hosted Ungal Theerpu and has been unstoppable ever since. She made a breakthrough in acting with K Balachander’s Rekkai Kattiya Manasu back in 2003 and then went on to perform in Nala Damayanthi, Whistle and Five By Four. Her career in the anchoring space spans over 20 years which includes 500-plus stage shows and innumerable seasons of popular reality shows. From Jodi Number One to Super Singer, she has done it all! Her most noted show, Koffee With DD, had her effortlessly interview Cinema stars where she entertained both the audience as well as the guests. She was presented with the JFW Excellence in Television Entertainment award. Anchors Gopinath, Jagan and Deepak Dinakar went onto the stage to present the award to DD and each of them shared their experience of working with her. There was a surprise and fun segment that had DD sit in the guest seat and was interviewed by Cook with Comali fame Sivaangi. Their light-hearted banter was enjoyable and had the audience in splits.
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Bhavani Devi:
Her tryst with fencing was coincidental but once she put her mind to it, she knew she could be the best. Bhavani Devi began fencing when she was in school and has worked extremely hard to stand where she does today. She is the first woman from India to qualify in Fencing for the Olympics. In 2009, Bhavani Devi won her first bronze medal at the Commonwealth Championship in Malaysia putting Indian fencing on the map. Since then she has bagged medals at various events including the International Open in Thailand, Cadet Asian Championship in Philippines, 2010 Asian Championship at Philippines among others. For the laurels that she has brought to India and for the many many more in future JFW was delighted to present Bhavani Devi the award for Excellence in Sports. Arjun Das along with M Bharath, Zonal Manager of TTK Prestige LTD presented the award to her. Arjun Das then had the audience going crazy as he belted out some famous movie dialogues in his most loved deep voice.
