SIIMA 2025: Allu Arjun, Rashmika, Amitabh Bachchan bag awards
What's the story
On Friday, the South Indian International Movie Awards (SIIMA) 2025 celebrated the best of Telugu and Kannada cinema in Dubai. The event recognized excellence in acting, music, and technical categories. Allu Arjun and Rashmika Mandanna won Best Actor (Male) and Best Actor (Female), respectively, for Pushpa 2: The Rule. Other award-winning films included Nag Ashwin's Kalki 2898 AD, a Telugu film, and Gowri, a Kannada film.
Leading films
Best of Telugu cinema
Pushpa 2: The Rule led the awards, with Arjun taking Best Actor (Male, Telugu) and Mandanna winning Best Actor (Female, Telugu) for her portrayal of Srivalli. Kalki 2898 AD won Best Film (Telugu), and Kamal Haasan received Best Actor in a Negative Role (Telugu) for his portrayal of Supreme Yaskin. Amitabh Bachchan won Best Supporting Actor (Telugu) while Anna Ben was honored with Best Supporting Actress (Telugu) for Kalki 2898 AD.
Artistic recognition
Other notable winners from the event
Devi Sri Prasad received Best Music Director (Telugu) for Pushpa 2. Ramajogayya Sastry won Best Lyricist (Telugu) for Chuttamalle from Devara. The track also earned Shilpa Rao Best Playback Singer (Female, Telugu). Kannada film stars like Ajaneesh Loknath, Samarjit Lankesh, and Ankita Amar were also awarded at the event. In Kannada categories, Aishwarya Rangarajan and Jaskaran won singing awards, while Best Actor (Male) and Best Actor (Female) went to Sudeep and Ashika Ranganath. Krishnam Pranaya Sakhi clinched Best Film (Kannada).
Honoring newcomers
Critics' choice awards and debut categories
The event also recognized industry veteran V Harikrishna with a Special Award for his significant contributions to South Indian cinema. The Best Actor (Critics) award went to Teja Sajja for HanuMan, while Meenakshi Chaudhary bagged Best Actress (Critics) for Lucky Baskhar. In the debut categories, Sandeep Saroj was named Best Debut Actor for Committee Kurollu and Bhagyashree Borse took home the Best Debut Actress award for Mr. Bachchan.
Upcoming announcements
Malayalam, Tamil films' winners to be announced on Saturday
The SIIMA Awards 2025 winners list for Malayalam and Tamil films will be announced on Saturday. The Goat Life (Aadujeevitham) leads with 10 nominations, followed by ARM and Aavesham with nine and eight nominations, respectively. The awards ceremony celebrates the best of South Indian cinema across four languages: Telugu, Tamil, Kannada, and Malayalam.