Chief minister M Karunanidhi bags best dialogue writer award

Chief minister M Karunanidhi bagged the best Dialogue Writer award for the film 'Uliyin Osai' as Tamil Nadu government today announced top film awards for 2007 and 2008.

Karunanidhi was a well-known dialogue writer before taking the plunge into politics, a trait the 86-year-old DMK patriarch has retained till date, with his penchant for classical Tamil dialogues.

Set in 1005 AD, 'Uliyin Osai' revolves around the quest of a king to find the right model for a beautiful sculpture to be installed at a proposed temple in Thanjavur and related incidents, with some twists and turns.

Films and politics are intertwined in Tamil Nadu, best exemplified by the almost demi-god status enjoyed by late M G Ramachandran, a former chief minister and founder of AIADMK, and Jayalalithaa, now spearheading the party and an actress of yesteryears who paired with him in many hits and like him, held the CM's post.

Kollywood icons Rajnikant and Kamal Haasan were chosen for the Best Actor Award for their roles in 'Sivaji-The Boss' and 'Dasavatharam' for 2007 and 2008 respectively. Kamal Haasan essayed 10 characters in 'Dasavatharam' in the high budget movie.

The Rajnikant-starrer 'Sivaji' swept many awards in various categories for 2007.      Justice A K Rajan committee which was constituted to pick the awardees, made the recommendations to the state government, an official release said here.