It was an evening to remember as numerous stars of the South Indian film industry descended in magnificent splendor at the Jawaharlal Nehru Indoor Stadium in Chennai. A plethora of emotions in the form of ecstatic joy, tears at being recognized after years of hard work and a sense of general acceptance reigned supreme at the well planned out awards ceremony.

Director Ameer's 'Paruthiveeran' was a huge name during the event clearly dominating proceedings as it went on to win best director (Ameer), best actor (Karthi), best actress (Priya Mani), Best supporting actor (Saravanan) and best supporting actress (Sujatha). Shankar's 'Sivaji' too made a mark with A. R. Rahman winning best musician award and K. V. Anand declared the best cinematographer.

For Telugu films, NTR Jr. bagged the award for best actor for his performance in 'Yamadonga' and Ram Charan Teja won the award for best debut actor for the film 'Chiruta'.

Malayalam films saw clear winners in Mohanlal and Meera Jasmine for their performances in 'Paradesi' and 'Ore Kadal' respectively. Interestingly the inspiration behind the latest Rajinikanth flick to be released soon, 'Katha Parayumpol' won the best film award.

This magnificent awards ceremony will go down in history for veteran Tamil actor Sivakumar being moved to tears when he was awarded a lifetime achievement award by his sons Suriya and Karthi. The hard working veteran had a lot on his mind when he received the award. The other lifetime achievement award went to Jayapradha.

Check out the stills of the awards ceremony in all its splendor.