At the Filmfare Awards on Saturday, actor Sivakarthikeyan, who won the award for his performance in Amaran, recalled his presence at the same award show more than a decade ago as an audience member.

Speaking about the time he went to the show with Dhanush, he said, "13 years ago I came to the Filmfare award show along with Dhanush sir. He asked me to accompany him for fun. Back then, I was sitting in the second row. It has taken 13 years for me to come to the first row and bag this award."

Sivakarthikeyan was also particularly elated about receiving the award from actor Simran. "It was more rewarding to receive the award from Simran Ma'am. I am a die-hard fan of the actor. I admire her dance, performance, and how she adapted to the Tamil language despite being a North Indian."

Lastly, the actor had special words of gratitude and praise for his fans: "I'm mostly a happy-go-lucky person. But I am grateful to the Tamil audience for accepting me in a serious role in Amaran despite them liking me for my comedy roles. I am also thankful to my fans who are constantly defending me and standing by me, no matter what backlash I face."

Amaran, helmed by Rajkumar Periasamy, featured Sivakarthikeyan as Major Mukund Varadarajan, alongside Sai Pallavi, who played Indhu Rebecca Varghese. The film opened to largely positive reviews and was both a critical and commercial success.

Sivakarthikeyan was recently seen in Parasakthi, his 25th film, helmed by Sudha Kongara. Also starring Sreeleela, Atharvaa and Ravi Mohan, the film opened to mixed reviews. Up next, he is working with director Sivakumar Murugesan on Seyon, which is backed by Kamal Haasan's Raaj Kamal Films International and is set to hit theatres in October. He also has another film with Venkat Prabhu, details about which are kept under wraps.