The Tamil Nadu State Awards is the recognition of best performances in Tamil films by the Tamil Nadu State Governments. They are considered as the regional version of the National award and have a long history. Winning this award has been a dream for every artist, creator and technician of Kollywood.
The State awards were instituted by the erstwhile DMK Government when it assumed office for the first time in the year 1967 and awards were given every year till 1971. Between 1971-1976 the awards were not. given. MGR after becoming Chief Minister for the first time in 1977 revived the State awards. That time, apart from awards for the films of 1977, the Best Actor and Best Actress in the years 1971-76 were also awarded with honorary certificates. This continued till 1982 before being stopped.
The State awards saw another revival in 1988 and they continued for two decades until becoming defunct in 2008.
But today the seeds for the resurrection of the State awards have been sown in the Tamil Nadu State Assembly. Actor and the DMK MLA of the Velachery constituency Vagai Chandrasekar asked the ADMK Government's stand on the issue.
Replying to his query, the Chief Minister J.Jayalalitha said that Tamil Nadu State Film Awards function will be held in a grand manner very soon.
This assurance from CM is yet another surprise gift for Kollywood and the film fraternity has already started celebrating it