South Indian stars rock Qatar audience at awards event

Glamour and glitter marked the first day of the eighth annual Pantaloons South Indian International Movie Awards (SIIMA) at the Lusail Sports Arena on Thursday, as a galaxy of stars descended on Doha to be a part of the two-day mega show.

Thursday saw the celebration of Telugu and Kannada cinema, as awards were given away in various categories and stars enthralled the crowd with some scintillating performances on stage.

Among those present on the occasion were superstar Chiranjeevi and a host of other famous personalities from the Telugu and Kannada film industries, including actors, singers, directors, writers, music directors, producers and technicians.

They included Keerthy Suresh, Vijay Deverakonda, Yash, Shriya Saran, Raai Laxmi, Ashish Gandhi, Dhananjaya, Nidhhi Agerwal, Anasuya, Andrea Jeremiah, Sundeep Kishan, Shanvi Srivatsava, Ananya Bhat, Vijay Raghavendra, Sharmila Mandre, Anupama, Malvika Sharma, Hebah Patel, Rajasree Ponnappa, Radhika Sarathkumar and Devi Sri Prasad.

Also present was noted trade analyst Taran Adarsh.

A number of dignitaries were also in attendance on Thursday, including Indian ambassador P Kumaran.

The second and concluding day of the show will focus on Malayalam and Tamil cinema, with superstar Mohanlal scheduled to attend.

Artistes from Telugu and Kannada film industries were honoured during Thursday’s event in various categories.

These included awards for best actor, actress, director, music director, lyricist, cinematographer, producer, debut actor, debut actress and debut director.

According to the organisers, the show is being attended by some 600 artistes over the two days, including 200 leading celebrities.

At the time of going to press, awards had been given out for categories such as Best Debut Actor Female (Kannada) - Anupama Gowda for 'Aa Karaala Ratri'; Best Debut Actor Female (Telugu) - Payal Rajput for 'RX 100target="_blank"'>