Annual film awards to be given on Raj's birthday

Government to provide subsidy to more movies

The state government will present the Karnataka State Film Awards on April 24, the birthday of thespian Rajkumar, every year.

Speaking after conferring the state film awards for 2014 and 2015 here on Sunday, the chief minister said that the government will also provide subsidy of Rs 10 lakh each to 125 films,  instead of the present 100. “The objective of this decision is to motivate movie makers to come up with quality films having messages to society,” he said.

Union Minister for Statistics and Programme Implementation D V Sadananda Gowda, who spoke on the occasion, exhorted film makers to make movies depicting the rich heritage and culture of Karnataka. “I also request the people from Kannada film industry to contribute for society, actively,” Gowda said.

While ‘Thithi’ won the best movie award for 2015, the best actor and best actress awards were bagged by Vijay Raghavendra and Malashree. ‘Harivu' secured the best movie award for 2014 while Sanchari Vijay and Lakshmi Gopalaswamy got the best actor and best actress award.

The lifetime achievement awards for 2015 were conferred on Harini (Dr Rajkumar award), Nagathihalli Chandrashekhar (Puttanna Kanagal award) and Rajan (Dr Vishnuvardhan award). Basanthkumar Patil, Baraguru Ramachandrappa and Suresh Urs got the respective awards for 2014.

Noticing that most of the audience left the venue after the awards were conferred, the chief minister, on a lighter note, said that from next year, he would deliver his speech first and awards would be given later.
 
Rs 5 lakh ex gratia for families of Anil, Uday
The state government has declared a compensation Rs 5 lakh each to the families of Anil Kumar and Raghava Uday, the two actors who drowned in the Thippagondanahalli reservoir during the shooting of a film.
Expressing his grief over the deaths, the chief minister blamed the stunt director and film director for the accident.
“From the clippings of the incident, it is clear that safety measures were not in place. Such accidents should not happen in future,” he said.