Filmfare Awards South

Filmfare Awards South is the South Indian segment of the annual Filmfare Awards, presented by the Filmfare magazine of The Times Group to honour both artistic and technical excellence of professionals in the South Indian film industry encompassing four languages, namely, Telugu, Tamil, Malayalam and Kannada. They were introduced in 1954, around the films released in 1952-53 and Filmfare Awards initially recognizing the Hindi film industry. In 1964 awards were extended in Telugu, Tamil, Bengali and Marathi, around the films released in 1963. The inclusion of the Malayalam cinema in the awards came in 1967 while Kannada cinema was recognized in 1970. Each industry is given its own set of creative awards in annual ceremonies that have predominantly been held in Hyderabad and Chennai. Kamal Haasan and Uday Kiran hold the record for being the youngest to win the Best Actor award
History.
The awards were first given in 1953 and the ceremony used to be held along with Bollywood Filmfare Awards. The awards were being held in the Kalaivanar Arangam, Chennai. Later the ceremony shifted to the distinctive Music Academy.
In 1953 initially recognizing the Hindi film industry. In 1963 Awards extended to Best Picture in Telugu, Tamil, Bengali & Marathi, for the awards and from 1966 Malayalam films were added. Kannada films became a part of the event in 1969. In 1972 the awards were extended to Best Actor, Best Actress and Best Director categories in all south Indian films. The categories for Special Awards were introduced in the 1980s and Best Music Direction in 1990s. Lifetime Achievement Award – South was first given in 1983. Award for Best Male debut and Female debut were given irregularly during the same period. Categories for Best Male Playback Singing and Best Female Playback Singing were introduced in 1997 . In 2002, awards for Best Supporting actors were given for Telugu and Tamil films. Since 2005, these awards were extended to the Malayalam and Kannada film industries. In the same year, additional categories such as Best Lyricist, Best Playback Singing were also introduced. Awards for Best Comedian were given from 2002 till 2006 and discontinued later.
Statuette.
The statuette, depicting a woman whose arms uprise in a dance number with her fingers touching, is commonly referred to as "The Black Lady" (or "The Lady in Black"). Originally designed by N.G. Phansare under the supervision of "Times of India"'s art director Walter Langhammer, it is generally made of bronze, its height is 46.5 cm and it weighs around five kg.
To celebrate the 25th year of the awards, the statues were made in silver and to celebrate the 50th year the statues were made in gold.
Award Categories.
As of 2006, there are a total of 10 categories across each of the four film industries.