Mathrubhumi Group, Amrita TV join hands for Idea Mathrubhumi Amrita Film Awards

For the first time, two leaders in Malayalam media joined forces to host a film award spectacle. The Mathrubhumi Group, with its dominant presence in print, FM radio and book publishing, and Amrita TV, India’s only satellite channel to win 29 State Awards for Excellence in just three years since inception, came together to co-create a unique event – the Idea Mathrubhumi Amrita Film Awards (MAFA).

The event witnessed several film stars and celebrities from Bollywood, South Indian, Bengali and French cinema converge on Thiruvananthapuram on February 21, 2009, wherein over 30 Awards were presented in numerous categories.

Singer Sonu Nigam enthralled the 30,000-strong audience with his choicest hits.

The Idea Mathrubhumi Amrita Awards line-up saw the presence of reigning stalwarts of South Indian cinema such as Mohan Lal, Mammooty, Dilip, Jayaram, Thilakan, Sreenivasan, Priyamani, Jayasurya, Roma, Gopika, Chitra, Vijay Yesudas, Parvathy, Jyothirmayi, Muktha, Mallika Kapoor, Lakshmi Gopalaswami, Samvritha, Renjith, Major Ravi, and cricketer Sreesanth, among others.

The show started with conferment of Lifetime Achievement Award on veteran Malayalam actor Padmashri Sukumari, who began her celluloid career over 50 years ago, having worked in a staggering 2,500 Malayalam, Tamil, Telugu, Kannada and Hindi films.

The film ‘Thirakatha’ bagged three awards – Best Film, Best Director for Renjith and Best Actor - Female for Priyamani.

Mohanlal won the Best Actor - Male Award for his varied performances in three films – ‘Akashagopuram’, ‘Kurukshetra’ and ‘Pakal Nakshtrangal’.

Mammooty was presented with a special award for ‘Excellence in Acting’, while Sreenivasan bagged the ‘Best All-Rounder’ Award. Popular Actor (Male and Female) Awards went to Jayaram and Gopika, respectively.

Deb Jyothi Misra won the ‘Best Music Director’ Award for the Bengali film ‘Calcutta News’.

The four-hour extravaganza had a unique entertainment format with a comic duo, a DJ duo and an anchor pair hosting the show.