'Kammatipaadam' Vinayakan is Best Actor

Muscat: Ambiguity and speculation were in the air for the announcement of the 48th Kerala State Film Awards 2016.
Mohanlal, Mammootty, Fahadh and Vinayakan had found a place in the final nomination list for the Best Actor.
But on Tuesday afternoon, breaking all the anxieties and curiosity, when the winner was announced by the Kerala government, it was Vinayakan, for his realistic portrayal of character Ganga in Kammatipaadam.
Rupesh Kumar, a documentary maker in Kerala, said that Vinayakan deserved the award.
“He is a definite oddity amongst actors. He captures our attention in whichever frame he occupies,” Rupesh added.
Kammatipaadam, the mob-movie, told the story of how the backward community in Kerala was forced to give up their lands to real-estate mafias and how modern urbanisation of Kochi metro-city took place over the plight of them.
Vinayakan always wanted to become a choreographer and he had a dance troupe named Black Mercury and Fire dance was his forte.
Director Thampi Kannanthanam introduced him in Maanthrikam in 1995 and later in Onnaman.
He was noticed in the film Stop Violence and won good reviews in the Mohanlal starrer Chotta Mumbai.
He had won The North American Film Award for Outstanding performance for the film Kammatipaadam.
Meanwhile, the Rajisha Vijayan won the Best Actress award for her amazing performance in Anuraga Karikkin Vellam.
It's the first win for the both actors and in fact it was Rajisha's debut venture.
It was also double the joy for Kammattipaadam team as Manikandan was adjudged the Best Character actor.
Out of the 12 films that made it to the final round, Manhole, which tells the story of manual scavengers, won the Best Film and Best Directors at Kerala State Awards 2016.
It must be noted that Vidhu Vincent, director of Manhole is the first woman to win Kerala State Award for Best Direction.
Actors Manikantan Achary and Punnassery Kanchana bagged the second Best Actor/Actress for their Kammatipaadam and Olappeppi respectively, while Shyam Pushkaran won the Best Screenplay Award. The award for the Best Popular Film was given to Fahadh Faasil's Maheshinte Prathikaram.
A total of 68 feature films were submitted for Kerala State Awards 2016, out of which 12 made it to the final rounds.
The jury members preceded by director AK Bir includes directors Priyanandanan, Sundar Das, Sudevan, actor Shanti Krishna, singer VT Murali, sound designer Arun Nambiar. The jury watched the aforementioned films from February 21.