State film awards to be revived: Jayalalithaa

Chennai: A grand award function will soon be organised to honour film artists and technicians, chief minister Jayalalithaa announced in the assembly on Friday. The chief minister made the announcement in response to DMK member Vagai Chandrasekar's statement that the Tamil Nadu State Film Awards had not been given out in the last five years of the AIADMK government.
Vagai Chandrasekar, who represents Velachery in the assembly, said, "During the previous DMK regime, the state awards were given out to film personalities every year. It was during the DMK regime that small screen actors and technicians were given state awards for the first time."
Retaliating, Jayalalithaa said, "DMK failed to organise awards for the police force during its previous regime. I made up for that by organising a huge awards function for the police after I took power." She also contended that it was during her rule that awards for small screen actors were given out first.
Jayalalithaa said, "Due to various reasons, we were not able to give out the state film awards to actors and technicians in the last five years. To make up for that, a grand awards function will be organised soon." The state film awards were first started in 1967 after DMK's C N Annadurai became chief minister.
Speaking to TOI, Chandrasekar said, "The Kalaimamani award has not been given out since AIADMK came to power. During our regime, we offered subsidies to small-budget films that took up a social cause. Even that practice stopped after AIADMK came to power."
Soon after the announcement by the chief minister, the South Indian Artistes Association (SIAA) thanked her in a press note. SIAA president Nasser said that the awards will serve as encouragement to actors and technicians. "The chief minister is to lay the foundation stone soon for the new Nadigar Sangam headquarters building at T Nagar. The announcement of a grand awards function has doubled our happiness," Nasser said,