The Filmfare Awards South are annual awards that honour artistic and technical excellence in the Telugu cinema, Tamil cinema, Malayalam cinema and Kannada cinema. They are presented by Filmfare magazine of The Times Group. When it was introduced in 1954, the Filmfare Awards initially only recognized achievements in the Hindi cinema. In 1964 the awards were extended to Telugu, Tamil, Bengali and Marathi languages.[1] Malayalam cinema was included in the awards in 1967 and Kannada cinema followed in 1970.

Quick Facts Awarded for, Sponsored by ...
Filmfare Awards South
Current: 69th Filmfare Awards South
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The Black Lady
Awarded forBest in South Indian cinema
Sponsored byMultiple
LocationIndia
CountryIndia
Presented byFilmfare
First awarded1963
Last awarded2024
Most awardsA. R. Rahman, Kamal Haasan
Most nominationsShreya Ghoshal
WebsiteFilmfare Awards
Television/radio coverage
NetworkStar India (2000–19, 2024–present)
Zee Entertainment Enterprises (2022)
RelatedFilmfare Awards
Filmfare Awards East
Filmfare Marathi Awards
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Each industry is given its own set of creative awards in annual ceremonies that have predominantly been held in Chennai and Hyderabad. Before 1976, the Awards ceremony was held in Mumbai along with Hindi awards. From 1976, Southern region film awards were separated from Hindi and moved to Chennai.

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 in the early days.[2] Later the ceremony was shifted to the distinctive Music Academy.

In 1953, initially only the Hindi film industry was recognized[citation needed]. In 1963 Awards extended to Best Picture in Telugu, Tamil, Bengali & Marathi, for the awards and from 1966 Malayalam films were added.[2] Kannada films became a part of the event in 1969.[2] In 1972 the awards were extended to Best Actor, Best Actress and Best Director categories in all south Indian films.[3] 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 was discontinued later.

Statuette

The statuette, depicting a woman whose arms uprise in a dance number with her fingers touching, is commonly referred to as "Black Lady" (or "The Lady in Black"). Originally designed by N.G. Pansare under the supervision of The 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.[4]

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.[5]

The Red Carpet

The Red Carpet is a segment that takes place before the beginning of the actual ceremony.[6] This is where actors, actresses, producers, directors, singers, composers, and others that have contributed to Indian cinema are introduced. Hosts question the celebrities about upcoming performances and who they think deserves to take the Black Lady home.[7]

Superlatives

More information Superlative, Artist ...
Superlative Artist Record
Most individual wins A. R. Rahman, Kamal Haasan 18 awards
Most individual nominations Shreya Ghoshal 48 nominations
Most direction awards K. Viswanath, K. Balachander 8 awards
Most music direction awards A. R. Rahman 18 awards
Most acting awards – Male Kamal Haasan 17 awards
Most acting awards – Female Lakshmi 7 awards
Most playback singer awards – Male Karthik 6 awards
Most playback singer awards – Female K. S. Chithra, Shreya Ghoshal 10 awards
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Records

Most Awards for a film

More information Film, No. of Awards ...
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Most Awards for Best Director

More information Image, Recipient ...
Image Recipient No. of Awards
K. Viswanath 8
K. Balachander 8
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Most Awards for Best Actor

More information Image, Recipient ...
Image Recipient No. of Awards
Kamal Haasan 17
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Most Awards for Best Actress

More information Image, Recipient ...
Image Recipient No. of Awards
Lakshmi 7
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Most Awards for Best Actor – Critics

More information Image, Recipient ...
Image Recipient No. of Awards
Dulquer Salmaan 3
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Most Awards for Best Actress – Critics

More information Image, Recipient ...
Image Recipient No. of Awards
Nithya Menen 2
Sruthi Hariharan 2
Sai Pallavi 2
Jyothika 2
Aishwarya Rajesh 2
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Most Awards for Best Supporting Actor

More information Image, Recipient ...
Image Recipient No. of Awards
Jagapathi Babu 4
Achyuth Kumar 4
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Most Awards for Best Supporting Actress

More information Image, Recipient ...
Image Recipient No. of Awards
Saranya Ponvannan 5
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Most Awards for Music Direction

More information Image, Recipient ...
Image Recipient No. of Awards
A. R. Rahman 18
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Most Awards for Lyricist

More information Image, Recipient ...
Image Recipient No. of Awards
Sirivennela Seetharama Sastry 6
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Most Awards for Male Singer

More information Image, Recipient ...
Image Recipient No. of Awards
Karthik 6
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Most Awards for Female Singer

More information Image, Recipient ...
Image Recipient No. of Awards
K S Chithra 10
Shreya Ghoshal 10
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Most Awards for Cinematographer

More information Image, Recipient ...
Image Recipient No. of Awards
K. K. Senthil Kumar 4
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Most Awards for Choreographer

More information Image, Recipient ...
Image Recipient No. of Awards
Prem Rakshith 6
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Most Awards for Production Designer

More information Image, Recipient ...
Image Recipient No. of Awards
Sabu Cyril 4
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Award Categories

Creative awards

Telugu cinema

Tamil cinema

Malayalam cinema

Kannada cinema

Technical awards

Special awards

Retired awards

Ceremonies

References

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