Nandi Awards for year 2001-2002, NTR awards (Dr. Bhanumati Rama Krishna, Hrishikesh Mukharjee and Kannada Raj Kumar) for year 2000, 2001 and 2002 and Raghupati Venkaiah award for year 2002 (P Suseela) were presented at a function organized at Lalitha Kala Toranam today evening.

The function was opened with the song of journalist turned singer Gangadhar. Chandra Babu Naidu and Kannada Kanteerava Raj Kumar lit the Jyothi.

Somireddy Chandra Mohan Reddy spoke about awards and Telugu film industry. Devender Goud said that the credit of organizing the Nandi Awards efficiently goes to NFDC chairperson DVS Raju. He commended Telugu film industry for keeping itself abreast of all the latest technologies of world cinema.

Kannada Kanteerava Raj Kumar started his speech with - 'Endaro mahanubhavulu .. andariki vandanamulu'. He recollected that NTR is a great friend of him and expressed happiness over receiving NTR award.

Dr Bhanumati Rama Krishna said that the chief minister Chandra Babu Naidu is making Telugu people proud with his work as chief minister. And she assured that Chandra Babu Naidu would become CM again. She recollected that in the past she said that T Subbirami Reddy would win elections in Vizag when she was felicitated out there and her prediction has become true. She shared good humor by saying that ANR is suitable candidate for politics where as she and NTR are not apt for politics.

Renown national singer P Suseela won the latest Raghupati Venkaiah award. She won national award five times in the past. She sung around 40,000 songs in various languages. She sung 12000 songs in Telugu itself. P Susieela started her speech with a song 'pilachina' (Bhanumati). She remembered that she hummed 1 minute song for Bhanumati's film 'Chandirani' in the music direction of MS Viswanathan. She commended Chandra Babu Naidu that he changed the Hyderabad city drastically. And she hoped to see Chandra Babu Naidu as CM of AP again.

Chief guest and chief minister Chandra Babu Naidu thanked Bhanumati for her wishes and said that he would strive his best to fulfill it. He commended Chiranjeevi for doing films with social purpose like Indra and Tagore. He also referred to Goldman Sachs report that placed USA, China and India in the top league by year 2040. He said that movies should give entertainment and they also thrive to increase the human values in the society. He said that everybody works for fame and good name. Money would become secondary after one reaches certain stage.

DVS Raju presented shawl to Chandra Babu Naidu, Devender Goud, Chandra Mohan Reddy Somireddy, Teegala Krishna Reddy, Akkineni Nageswara Rao, K Raghavendra Rao, Mohan Kanda, Rajeswar Tiwari, Dr. C Narayana Reddy and VS Rama Devi.

The Nandi awards jury committee chairman VS Rama Devi said that they made sure that everything went right during the selection. However, she gave justification for a few controversies generated by the media.

• Sharing the best actor award with 2 members for the 1st time: Chiranjeevi got the best hero award because Chiranjeevi portrayed the role of Indrasena Reddy who converted 'Bhuswamya Samajam into Prajaswamyam'. Nagarjuna got the award because he showed how the employees of multinational companies behave in this era of globalization.
• On giving award to Suman Setty as comedian (he has scenes of teasing Shakeela in Jayam): Suman Setty is a new guy with a spark with a bright future. Instead of giving award to veteran people, the committee decided to award to Suman Setty.
• Letting two actors share 'best villain' award: Gopichand did the role of a dreadsome villain with his crude portrayal and Ahuti Prasad underplayed it. She also opined that more documentaries should be made.

Chiranjeevi said that 'Indrasena Reddy' character gave him both awards and rewards. He expressed his happiness over sharing the award with his friend Nagarjuna. He described this shared Nandi award as a foundation for a future projects in which both of them would act.

Nagarjuna expressed his joy over getting two top awards - best lead actor and best producer. He dedicated this award to his family, technicians worked for the film and his fans. Nagarjuna said that he is ready to do a multistarrer with Chiranjeevi and hoped that both Chiranjeevi and himself would receive Nandi award jointly for their performances in that film.

Swetha - best child actress donated the money she got through Nandi award to Dakshanya Mentally Handicapped Home of Guntur.

Incidentally, none of the heroes who won the jury awards turned up. These heroes are Mahesh Babu, NTR and Ravi Teja.