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Sporting the hairstyle and beard of his latest film ‘Sinka’, Surya who boasts of legions of fans in Kerala as well, received his Best Actor in Tamil Award from Mamooty, the first time his talent was lauded in Kerala ; Shreya was the Best Actress in Tamil . The glittering ceremony that held Cochin to ‘entertainment ransom’ in which a galaxy of stars from Malayalam, Tamil and Hindi took part was made more dazzling by a string of dance performances, songs and comedy skits.

Reema Kallingal who performed contemporary dances based on ‘Pazhassi Raja’ ; Samvrutha Sunil who graced the stage with a classical number ; Isha Saravani of the ‘Daksha Sheth’ group and Amrita TV’s own Shamna Kasim who is all set to graduate to Bollywood - enthralled with their blend of classical and contemporary dances, while Rimy Tommy, Afzal, Sayanora and Renjith and Anuradha Sriram had the massive crowd swaying as one to their lilting tunes. Stephen Devassy, the celebrity keyboardist not only lent orchestral support to the performers, he also composed and played the background score for the entire function.

Comedy skits by Tini Tom and Kalpana with their tongue-in-cheek humour provided uproarious interludes between the feast of music and dance; Thirunelvelli’s Thappattam was a discovery in dynamic new rhythms. Aviyal Band, the Kerala Rock Band lived up to its name setting ethnic tunes to rock music ; the famed Bombay Vikings headed by Neeraj Sridhar Of ‘Hare Rama Hare Krishna’ , ‘Love Mera Hit Hit’ fame almost brought the skies down with their ‘Vo Chale’ and other Hindi hits. Dileep, Jayasurya, Menaka Suresh, Suraj Venjaramoodu, , Bhama, Lalu Alex, Swetha Menon, Sharath Kumar, Suresh Krishna were amongst those who lent glamour to the function.

It was a spectacular display that left even the grand Moghuls of Tinsel Town, for whom glitz is a part of life, dumbstruck with wonder.

‘I have never seen such a congregation of stars in my life” said Director Hariharan “ With this Award function MAFA has raised the bar to National heights” – a sentiment that was echoed by the thousands who had thronged Cochin’s Marine Drive for an event that may take years to be surpassed.