Chennai, Jul 8 (TOI): The 59th Idea Filmfare Awards 2011 (South) saw Ramya-Srinagara Kitty-starrer Sanju Weds Geetha win four out of the 10 awards for Kannada. While Ramya won the Best Actress award for the film, Sanju Weds Geetha won three of the four music awards, which included awards for singer female (Shreya Ghoshal), lyricist (Kaviraj) and music director (Jassie Gift). Meanwhile, Chethan won the Best Singer Male award for his racy number Yaarigelona Namma Problemu from Lifeu Ishtene.
Best Film - Olave Mandara
Best Director - Jayatheertha (Olave Mandara)
Best Actor Male - Puneeth Rajkumar (Hudugaru)
Best Actor Female - Ramya (Sanju Weds Geetha)
Best Supporting Actor Male - Ravishankar (Kempe Gowda)
Best Supporting Actor Female - Shruthi (Puttakkana Highway)
Best Music Director - Jassie Gift (Sanju Weds Geetha)
Best Playback Singer Male - Chethan - Yaarigelona Namma Problem- (Lifu Ishtena)
Best Playback Singer Female - Shreya Ghoshal - Gaganave - (Sanju Weds Geetha)
Best Lyrics Kaviraj - Sanju Mathu Geetha - (Sanju Weds Geetha)
Accepting her award, Ramya said, "The film is very special to me because we went battled financial hardships and extreme weather conditions. We had a quiet release and, much to our delight, the film ended up being one of the blockbusters of 2011."
Puneeth Rajkumar won the Best Actor award for Hudugaru. ""This win is for my team, especially for (Srinagara) Kitty and Yogi, my co-actors. I'd first like to thank Samuthirakani, for penning down such a lovely script and my director Madhesh for adapting it so well to Kannada sensibilities. It was a great team to work with, and coincidentally my first multi-starrer," said Puneeth.
Olave Mandara, which was made by a team of first-timers, won the two big awards, Best Director and Best Film. Jayatheertha, who won the Best Director award for his very first film Olave Mandara, said, "It is an honour to win a Filmfare for my first film. This was a very special love story and I'm glad that the effort has been recognized. It only encourages newcomers like me to work harder."
Ravishankar won the Best Supporting Actor Male award for his performance as the baddie in Kempegowda. Shruthi walked away with the award for the Best Supporting Actress for her endearing performance as Puttakka in the film Puttakkana Highway, which totalled her Filmfare awards tally to 5!