The Hiru Golden Film Awards was held on a grand scale at the Sugathadasa Indoor Stadium yesterday leaving a golden note in the history of Sri Lankan cinema as the largest local cinema awards ceremony held ever in Sri Lanka.
Hiru Golden Film Awards organized to international standards was held with the participation of a galaxy of Bollywood and local superstars.
Several Bollywood superstars including Bipasha Basu, Neha Dupia, Anil Kapoor, Sunil Shetti and Vivek Oberoi joined this historic cinematic experience.
In addition, super vocalist Alka Yagnik who thrilled the hearts of Bollywood fans also joined her fellow film stars.
State of the art technology and most modern lighting systems never used in a Sri Lankan awards ceremony were used to provide lighting for Hiru Golden Film Awards.
In addition, the most sophisticated sound control system and most advanced camera system in the country were used to cover this spectacular event leaving a lasting memory of the ceremony.
Sri Lankan film industry which began 67 years ago has passed its golden era where film personnel were appreciated.
But no quality productions were screened afterward thereby making it one of the causes to collapse the industry.
In order to fill the vacuum, Hiru Golden Film Awards, was organized according to a concept by Asia Broadcasting Corporation Chairman Rayynor Silva, taking a revolutionary profile in the local cinema industry.
16 years ago, the local radio industry was also given new perspective following a concept given by Asia Broadcasting Corporation Chairman Rayynor Silva.
As a result, a family of radio channels such as Hiru FM, Sha FM, Sun FM, Gold FM and Sooriyan FM were introduced.
Leading in the arena, Asia Broadcasting Corporation later introduced its first Television channel Hiru TV which has already left its musing in the hearts of its viewers.
Chairman Rayynor Silva championed both Radio and Television and the latest endeavour of Asia Broadcasting Corporation was Hiru Golden Film Awards.
Hiru Golden Film Awards, the first of its kind, awarded films that were screened in 2012 and 2013 and another 100 short films produced during the same period.
Hiru Golden Film Award was held at a time where there is a large vacuum in the local film industry.
Awards for Most popular Actor, actress and the most popular song were presented according to an opinion poll carried out through S M S’s and awards ceremony web site.
Accordingly the award for the best film direction was presented to Ashoka Handagama for “Iniyawan” while “Siri Parakum” received the award for the most popular film.
Akila Dhanuddara who featured in “Siri Parakum” was awarded most popular actor and Yashoda Wimaladharma was awarded most popular actress for her role in “Samala Sandwaniya”.
The Best Actor award went to Darshan Dharmaraj for “Iniyawan”.
Chandani Seneviratne who acted in “Nikini Wassa” was presented with the best actress award.
Veteran artists from Sri Lanka as well as Bollywood stars Bipasha Basu, Anil Kapoor, Sunil Shetti, Vivek Oberoi, Neha Dhupia and super vocalist Alka Yagnik who participated in the Hiru Golden Film Awards, presented the awards.
The Best Supporting actor award was presented to Ashan Dias for his role in “Siri Parakum” while Niranjani Shanmugaraja was awarded Best Supporting actress for her role in “Iniyawan”.
The best upcoming actor award went to “Jagath Manuwarna” for his roles in “Nikini Wassa” and “Karma”.
Sulochana Weerasinghe became the best upcoming actress for her role in Nikini Wessa.
Pramuditha Udaya Kumara was awarded “Best child actor” for his role in Siri Parakum.
Amila Thenuwara was awarded “best film songwriter” for the song “Ikigasa handana” from Samala Sandwaniya while Amarasiri Peiris was awarded best male background singer for the same song. The song Ikigasa handana was also selected as the most popular song.
Uresha Rawihari was awarded best female background singer for the “jala dhara” in Kusa Paba.
The best film editor award was presented to Ajith Ramanayake for Iniyawan while Palitha Perera received the award for best camera direction for the film “Karma”.
The award for the best Scriptwriter was won by Aruna Jayawardena for Nikini Wessa.
“Hiru Jeewana Pranama special award” at the Hiru Golden Film awards was presented to Swarna Mallawarachchi.
Hiru Uththamachaara award was won by late Andrew Jayamaanna who has provided a yeoman service to the tele and cinema industry as a director and a camera director.
