PremiumExplained: Here's why 2015 Tamil Nadu State Awards were given to Jyothika and Arvind Swamy in 2024
While Thani Oruvan won the coveted award under the Best Film Category, with Jyothika and Madhavan bagging the Best Actor and Best Actress awards respectively for 36 Vayathinile and Irudhi Suttru
Last Updated: 08.22 PM, Mar 07, 2024
The Tamil Nadu government had recently announced the winners of the Tamil Nadu State Film Awards for 2015 after a period of nine long years. Thani Oruvan won the coveted award under the Best Film Category, with Jyothika and Madhavan bagging the Best Actor and Best Actress awards respectively for 36 Vayathinile and Irudhi Suttru. The awards were given on Wednesday at Chennai's TN Rajarathinam Kalai Arangam and were handed out by Minister for Information and Publicity MP Saminathan.
While the awards went to the much deserving artists and works of creations, the question that lingered in the minds of common public is that why were the awards for 2015 were being given in 2024, after nine years?
History of TN State Film Awards
To know why the delay, one must understand the history of the Tamil Nadu State Film Awards. Unlike Telangana’s Gaddar Awards organised by Telangana Film Chambers of Commerce and the Kerala State Film Awards by Chalachitra Akademi, Tamil Nadu does not have a separate institution to monitor the State Film Awards. This has further let confusion linger on the body or jury members who are in-charge of the awards.
It is also to be noted that the TN State Film Awards were first given out in 1967, however, were discontinued after 2008. While the reasons for the delay and discontinuation are largely looming in the dark, the awards came back in 2017 when the government began to announce the winners from 2009 to 2014 from the year 2017 to 2023.
Why is there a delay?
Speaking to OTTplay, producer Dhananjay said, “In 2016, the AIADMK part won the elections again and the jury was formed and they had seen the films. However, no decisions were taken. So, we as an industry, had requested the government to move forth the awards and had filled out all the necessary forms.” However, as the delay persisted, the pressure was put further and from 2017 they had begun to give from the year 2009. In line with it, 2015’s awards were given out in 2024.
“If you see the National Film Awards, they had to be given out on May 3 every year for the previous year, but in the last couple of years, the awards have been facing a backlog of couple of years due to the pandemic. Usually by January the applications are taken, and decisions are made by April in time for the awards to be given out in May,” he adds.
The producer has also said that the industry has been informed about the backlog, the State has assured that all the awards for the years after 2015 (2016 and 2017) will be given back-to-back within a span of one month, while 2018 and 2022 after the elections in June. Dhananjayan said, “Giving the awards is not the government’s priority. It is only part of the department's work and in between there were two years of pandemic. With the National Film Awards itself facing a delay, the State Film Awards have been facing more backlog.”