The Telangana Gaddar Film Awards (TGFA) 2024 were held on Saturday in Hyderabad. The ceremony was organized under the supervision of TFDC (Telangana Film Development Corporation) Chairman Dil Raju. Among others, Telangana CM Revanth Reddy attended the event as the chief guest.
Kalki 2898 AD and Lucky Baskhar bagged 4 awards each, with Nag Ashwin bagging the award for Best director for the former. Among the acting honours, Allu Arjun and Nivetha Thomas bagged the awards for Best Lead Actor and Lead Actress, for Pushpa 2: The Rule and 35 - Chinna Katha Kaadu.
Allu Arjun, who received the award from Telangana CM Revanth Reddy, gave a heartfelt speech on the occasion. He stated, “This is a special award, for it’s the first award I’ve won for Pushpa 2. I would like to dedicate this award to all my fans. I hope to make you more proud, my army.” On a lighter note, the actor also reenacted his iconic ‘Rappa Rappa’ dialogue from Pushpa 2, much to a jubilant cheer from the audience.
Besides the awards recipients for the film released in 2024, awards for Best Three Films for the years 2014 to 2023 were also given at the ceremony. The award organisers also presented special Golden mementos to all the jury members who watched the shortlisted films from the aforementioned decade, and chose the winners. The jury committee included eminent film personalities like Jayasudha, Ooha, M Murali Mohan, K Dasaradh, DVK Raju, and Uma Maheshwara Rao among others.
The list of awards also included special honours for contribution to Telugu Cinema. While Nandamuri Balakrishna was conferred with the NTR National Award, Legendary Tamil filmmaker Mani Ratnam too was in attendance to receive the Paidi Jairaj Film Award, while Sukumar was conferred with the BN Reddy Film Award.
Vijay Deverakonda was honoured with Kantha Rao Film Award. In his acceptance speech, Vijay stated, “It’s a proud moment for me. Born in Mahabubnagar, I feel great responsibility to be the first recipient of this award named after the great Kantha Rao gaaru. There is still lot more to do.”
Popular film music figures like Thaman S, Ram Miriyala, and Mangli entertained with audience with their mesmerising medley performances, belting out some of their most popular numbers. Additionally, MM Keeravan orchestrated a special song titled 'Jai Telangana' with his musical troupe, paying ode to Telangana state and its rich heritage.
The other highlights of the evening were Bheems Ceciroleo coming to the stage with his mother, to receive the Best Music Director award for Razakar. Later, Bheems also performed a medley of his chartbusters with his troupe.
Also in attendance werre SS Rajamouli, Allu Aravind, Pooja Hegde and veteran acting personalities like Jayaprada and Suhasini Maniratnam.
