‘Janatha Garage’, ‘Kirik Party’ Bag Top Honours At IIFA Utsavam 2017

Hyderabad: Actor Jr NTR's Telugu action drama "Janatha Garage" and Rakshit Shetty starrer Kannada campus drama "Kirik Party" bagged top awards at the second edition of IIFA Utsavam here.

The two-day event, backed by Fortune Sunflower Oil, honoured the best talent across Telugu and Kannada film industries on Wednesday night. "Janatha Garage", which also featured Malayalam superstar Mohanlal in a crucial role, bagged six awards, including Best Picture, Direction for Koratala Siva, Leading Role male for Jr NTR, Lyrics for Ramajogayya Sastry, Music for Devi Sri Prasad and Playback Singer female for Geetha Madhuri. National Award winning filmmaker Krish Jagarlamudi bagged the Best Story award for his critically acclaimed war drama "Kanche". Krish said the award is special to him because it's for the first time in his career his writing is being honoured.

The Best Comic Role award was bagged by Priyadarshi Pullikonda for his wonderful performance in last year's sleeper hit "Pelli Choopulu". Samantha Ruth Prabhu pocketed best Leading Role female award for Trivikram's "AÂ Aa". Actor Jagapathi Babu was awarded best Negative Role for his work in Jr NTR's "Nannaku Prematho". For the film "Krishna Gaadi Veera Prema Gadha", Haricharan Seshadri won the Playback Singer male award. Actors Allu Arjun and Anupama Parameswaran bagged best Supporting Roles for "Rudhramadevi" and "Premam" respectively.

Veteran filmmaker K. Raghavendra Rao was honoured with Lifetime Achievement award for his outstanding contribution to Indian cinema. Actor-producer Akkineni Nagarjuna presented the award and thanked the septuagenarian director for believing in him and working in projects such as "Annamayya" and "Sri Ramadasu" among others. In the Kannada film awards category, Rakshit Shetty's "Kirik Party" bagged five awards and these include Best Picture, Leading Role male and lyrics for Rakshit Shetty, Music Direction for Ajaneesh Loknath and Playback Singer male for Vijay Prakash.

Filmmaker Pawan Kumar won the Best Story award for his paranormal thriller "U-Turn", which also earned him an honour for Direction. Actor Chikkanna for his performance in "Kotigobba 2" won the best Comic Role award. Parul Yadav, for her work in Ram Gopal Varma's "Killing Veerappan", bagged best Leading Role female award. Yagna Shetty, on the other hand, won best Supporting Role female award for the same project. For the film "Godhi Banna Sadharana Mykattu", actor Vasishta won best Negative Role award while Inchara Rao won Playback Singer female award.

Rakshit Shetty won best Supporting Role male award for Hemanth Rao-directed "Godhi Banna Sadharana Mykattu". In the Kannada industry, well-known actor Dwarakish was honoured with the Lifetime Achievement award for his outstanding contribution to Indian cinema.

-IANS