A poster of Kalki 2898 ad
The winners of the inaugural edition of the Gaddar Telangana Film Awards were announced on Thursday, celebrating excellence in Telugu cinema across 35 categories.
The awards, named in honour of revolutionary balladeer Gaddar, also marked the announcement of a award for a book recognising contributions to Telugu film literature.
A jury committee’s report on the selection of films and artists for the 2024 awards was given to Chief Minister A. Revanth Reddy and Deputy Chief Minister Mallu Bhatti Vikramarka on Thursday.
Kalki 2898 addirected by Nag Ashwin and starring an ensemble cast including Prabhas, Amitabh Bachchan, Kamal Haasan, and Deepika Padukone has won the Best Feature Film award. The second and third best feature film awards were bagged by POTTELdirected by Sahit Mothkuri, and Lucky Baskhar – Directed by Venky atluri, and starring dulquer salmaan and meenakshi chaudhary.
In recognition of socially relevant cinema, the award for Best Feature Film on National Integration, Communal Harmony and Social Upliftment of Depressed Classes went to COMMITTEE KURROLLU. The Best Children’s Film was awarded to 35 chinna kathakaduwhile Razakar received the honour in the Feature Film on Environment, Heritage, and History category.
Yadhu Vamsi was named Best Debut Director for COMMITTEE KURROLLUand the award for Best Wholesome Entertainment Film went to Aay… Mem Friends andi.
Nag Ashwin also took home the Best Director award for Kalki 2898 ad. In the acting categories, Allu Arjun won Best Leading Actor for his performance in Pushpa-2while Nivetha Thomas was named Best Leading Actress for her role in 35 chinna katha kadu.
S.J. Suryah and Sharanya Pradeep were recognised as Best Supporting Actor and Actress for Saripoda Sanivaram and Ambajipeta Marriage Bandrespectively.
The music segment saw Bheems Ceciroleo winning Best Music Director for Razakar. Sid Sriram was awarded Best Male Playback Singer for Nizame ne chebutunna (Ooru peru bhairavakona) and Shreya Ghoshal won Best Female Playback Singer for Suseti Aggi Ravva (Pushpa-2). The Best Comedian award was shared by Satya and Vennela Kishore for Mathu Vadalara-2.
Among the technical categories, Vishwanath Reddy was recognised for Best Cinematography for GaamiNavin Nooli for Best Editing for Lucky Baskharand Aravind Menon for Best Audiography for Gaami. Ganesh Acharya won Best Choreography for PUJA HELP in Devarawhile Nitin Zihani Choudhary received Best Art Direction for Kalki 2898 ad.
Other winners included Chandra Bose for Best Lyricist (Raju yadav), Siva Paladugu for Best Story (Music Shop Murthy), Venky Atluri for Best Screenplay (Lucky Baskhar), and K. Chandra Shekar Rathod for Best Action Choreography (Gangster). Nalla Sreenu (Makeup – Razakar) and Archana Rao and Ajay Kumar (Costumes – Kalki 2898 ad) were also honoured.
Four Special Jury Awards were announced: Dulquer Salmaan (Lucky Baskhar), Ananya wanderedPOTTEL), Sujith and Sandeep (The), and prashanth reddy and rajesh kallepally (Raju yadav). Faria Abdullah received a Jury Special Mention for her rap performance in Mattu vadalara-2.
The award for Best Book on Telugu Cinema went to Mana Cinema First Reel by Rentala Jayadeva, as per the jury committee’s report.
Published – May 29, 2025 11:48 am is
