JayNesh, Eswari and more win big at Vasantham's Pradhana Vizha 2021
A new award was also presented to honour the best in the Indian radio scene.
Local Indian entertainment's biennial awards ceremony Pradhana Vizha was held on Mar 27 at The Theatre at Mediacorp, celebrating the power of the arts to bring the community together.
Hosted by JayNesh, Udaya Soundari, Saravanan Ayyavoo, Karthikeyan and Haleema, the 17th edition of Singapore's largest Indian entertainment event saw a total of 31 awards handed out, including a new award presented for the first time ever: The Best Radio Programme accolade, which went to Mediacorp’s Oli 968 for Uravugal Thodarkathi by Gunalan Morgan.
The keenly-watched Best Actor award went to Mathialagan for his work in the drama series Rowthiram, while Eswari Gunasagar took the Best Actress trophy for the drama Kalaba Kadhala.
In the hotly-contested popularity categories, JayNesh, also known by his full name Jaya Ganesh Isuran, was named Most Popular Male Artiste, while the Most Popular Female Artiste award went to Manjari.
Manjari was also named Best Supporting Actress for her work in the series Bommalatam, and JayNesh also took home the Best Comedy Actor award for Adukku Veettu Annasamy.
The Best Drama Series award went to Uyire, a drama revolving around an ex-military officer and his family.
Other highlights of the show included a special Lifetime Achievement Award presented to cultural medallion recipient P Krishnan, a radio producer and presenter for Radio Singapore whose long and illustrious career spanned various aspects of broadcasting, from news reading to disk-jockeying, acting, singing, and even directing. The award was presented by K Shanmugam, Minister for Home Affairs and Minister for Law, in an exclusive pre-recorded video.
In addition, audiences were treated to performances by Suthasini, Ebi Shankara, Guna, Pavitra Renuka, Dhurgashini, Pavithra Nair, Aneetha and Mark Sara, as well as local dance troupe Rameshwara.
There were also stage numbers by veteran artistes Suriamoorthy, Vijaydran, Gunaselvam, Prasanna and Vikneswari.
Catch Pradhana Vizha 2021 on meWATCH and Mediacorp Entertainment on YouTube.