Filmfare Awards South

For other uses, see Filmfare Awards (disambiguation).

Filmfare Awards South
Current: 70th Filmfare Awards South
Awarded forExcellence in the South Indian cinema
CountryIndia
Presented byFilmfare (The Times Group)
First award17 June 1964 (1964-06-17)
WebsiteFilmfare Awards
Television/radio coverage
NetworkStar India (2000–19, 2024)
Zee Entertainment Enterprises (2022; 2026–present)

The Filmfare Awards South are annual awards that honour artistic and technical excellence in the Telugu cinema, Tamil cinema, Malayalam cinema and Kannada cinema. They are presented by Filmfare magazine of The Times Group. When it was introduced in 1954, the Filmfare Awards initially only recognized achievements in the Hindi cinema. In 1964 the awards were extended to Telugu, Tamil, Bengali and Marathi languages for the films released in 1963.[1] The awards were extended to Malayalam cinema in 1967 and Kannada cinema in 1970.

Each industry is given its own set of creative awards in annual ceremonies that have predominantly been held in Chennai and Hyderabad. Before 1976, the ceremony was held in Mumbai along with Hindi segment. From 1976, the southern region segment were separated from awards for Hindi-language films and moved to Chennai first, and later to Hyderabad in 1997. The event made its debut in Bengaluru and Kochi in 2022 and 2026 respectively.[2][3]

History

The awards were first given in 1953 and the ceremony used to be held along with Hindi cinema's Filmfare Awards. The awards were held in the Kalaivanar Arangam, Chennai in the early days.[4] Later the ceremony was shifted to the distinctive Music Academy.

In 1953, initially only the Hindi film industry was recognized.[5] In 1963 Awards extended to Best Picture in Telugu, Tamil, Bengali & Marathi, for the awards and from 1966 Malayalam films were added.[4] Kannada films became a part of the event in 1969.[4] In 1972 the awards were extended to Best Actor, Best Actress and Best Director categories in all south Indian films.[6] The categories for Special Awards were introduced in the 1980s and Best Music Direction in 1990s. Lifetime Achievement Award – South was first given in 1983. Award for Best Male debut and Female debut were given irregularly during the same period. Categories for Best Male Playback Singing and Best Female Playback Singing were introduced in 1997.

In 2002, awards for Best Supporting actors were given for Tamil and Telugu films. Since 2005, these awards were extended to the Malayalam and Kannada film industries. In the same year, additional categories such as Best Lyricist, Best Playback Singing were also introduced. Awards for Best Comedian were given from 2002 till 2006 and was discontinued later.

Statuette

The statuette, depicting a woman whose arms uprise in a dance number with her fingers touching, is commonly referred to as "Black Lady" (or "The Lady in Black"). Originally designed by N.G. Pansare under the supervision of The Times of India's art director Walter Langhammer, it is generally made of bronze, its height is 46.5 cm and it weighs around five kg.[7]

To celebrate the 25th year of the awards, the statues were made in silver and to celebrate the 50th year the statues were made in gold.[8]

The Red Carpet

The Red Carpet is a segment that takes place before the beginning of the actual ceremony.[9] This is where actors, actresses, producers, directors, singers, composers, and others that have contributed to Indian cinema are introduced. Hosts question the celebrities about upcoming performances and who they think deserves to take the Black Lady home.[10]

Records

Most awards for an individual

No. of Awards Recipient Image
19 Kamal Haasan

Most awards for a single language

No. of Awards Recipient Image
14 Mammootty
(for Malayalam Cinema)

Most awards for a film

No. of Awards Film
9 Nuvvostanante Nenoddantana
RRR
8 Anniyan
Baahubali 2: The Conclusion
Soorarai Pottru
Amaran

Most awards for Best Director

No. of Awards Recipient Image
8 K. Viswanath
K. Balachander

Most awards for Best Actor (Popular)

No. of Awards Recipient Image
17 Kamal Haasan

Most awards for Best Actress (Popular)

No. of Awards Recipient Image
7 Lakshmi

Most awards for Best Actor (Critics)

No. of Awards Recipient Image
3 Dulquer Salman
Arvind Swamy

Most awards for Best Actress (Critics)

No. of Awards Recipient Image
2 Nithya Menon
Sruthi Hariharan
Sai Pallavi
Jyothika
Aishwarya Rajesh

Most awards for Best Supporting Actor

No. of Awards Recipient Image
4 Jagapathi Babu
Achyuth Kumar

Most awards for Best Supporting Actress

No. of Awards Recipient Image
5 Saranya Ponvannan

Most awards for Best Music Director

No. of Awards Recipient Image
18 A. R. Rahman

Most awards for Best Lyricist

No. of Awards Recipient Image
6 Sirivennela Seetharama Sastry

Most awards for Best Playback Singer (Male)

No. of Awards Recipient Image
6 Karthik

Most awards for Best Playback Singer (Female)

No. of Awards Recipient Image
10 K. S. Chithra
Shreya Ghoshal

Most awards for Best Cinematographer

No. of Awards Recipient Image
4 K. K. Senthil Kumar

Most awards for Best Choreographer

No. of Awards Recipient Image
6 Prem Rakshith
Sekhar

Most awards for Best Production Designer

No. of Awards Recipient Image
4 Sabu Cyril

Award categories

Creative awards

Malayalam cinema

Telugu cinema

Tamil cinema

Kannada cinema

Technical awards

Special awards

Retired awards

Ceremonies

References

  1. ^ "11th Annual South Filmfare Awards Winners". 6 August 2024.
  2. ^ "The 67th Parle Filmfare Awards South 2022 with Kamar Film Factory hosted in Bengaluru concludes successfully, honors the best of the Tamil, Kannada, Telugu, and Malayalam cinema". The Times of India. 11 October 2022. ISSN 0971-8257. Retrieved 23 February 2026.
  3. ^ "The 70th Filmfare Awards South With Kerala Tourism To Take In Kochi This February | Filmfare.com". www.filmfare.com. Retrieved 23 February 2026.
  4. ^ a b c "Magadheera,Nadodigal,Josh bag top honours at the Filmfare awards". The Times of India. Archived from the original on 9 October 2011. Retrieved 7 July 2011.
  5. ^ "1st National Film Awards" (PDF). Directorate of Film Festivals. Archived (PDF) from the original on 25 July 2020. Retrieved 2 September 2020.
  6. ^ Film world, Volume 9. T.M. Ramachandran. 1973.
  7. ^ Pinto, Jerry (April 1997). "Tangy titbits from the Filmfare past". Filmfare. Archived from the original on 5 July 1998. Retrieved 13 January 2012.
  8. ^ "A golden glow for Filmfare". The Hindu. PTI. 28 January 2005. Archived from the original on 2 March 2005. Retrieved 26 January 2011.
  9. ^ "66th Yamaha Fascino Filmfare Awards South 2019: These ladies scorched the red carpet in their stunning ensembles – Times of India". The Times of India. 23 December 2019. Retrieved 13 July 2021.
  10. ^ "66th Yamaha Fascino Filmfare Awards South: Ravishing Divas on the Red Carpet (PHOTOS)". The Times of India. 21 December 2019. Retrieved 13 July 2021.
  11. ^ Archived at Ghostarchive and the Wayback Machine: "Rare Video of 27th Annual Film Fare Awards – 1980 (Voice Over – Radhika Sarathkumar)". 23 February 2014 – via YouTube.
  12. ^ "34th Annual Filmfare Awards Ceremony: Madras '87", Filmfare, p. 67, October 1987, retrieved 19 December 2025
  13. ^ "34th Filmfare South Winners", Fanfare, p. 72, October 1987, retrieved 19 December 2025
  14. ^ "38th Filmfare Awards South Winners Tamil Malayalam Actors". 16 April 2025.
  15. ^ https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=276573260327438
  16. ^ "Filmfare awards for South India – Telugu, Tamil, Malayalam & Kannada – Telugu Cinema". idlebrain.com.
  17. ^ "Winners of the 63rd Britannia Filmfare Awards (South)". filmfare.com. Archived from the original on 2 July 2016.
  18. ^ "Winners: 64th Jio Filmfare Awards 2017 (South)". The Times of India. 19 June 2017.
  19. ^ https://www.instagram.com/explore/search/keyword/?q=%2370thfilmfareawardssouth&hl=en
  20. ^ https://www.instagram.com/reels/DT7UC5_iH5N/
  21. ^ https://www.facebook.com/Filmfare/videos/rajkummarrao-gives-us-a-sneak-peek-into-the-buzz-around-filmfare-awards-south-70/1855648485067002/
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