Kerala State Film Award for Best Actor

The Kerala State Film Award for Best Actor is an honour, begun in 1969, presented annually at the Kerala State Film Awards of India to an actor for the best performance in a leading role in the Malayalam cinema. Until 1997, the awards were managed directly by the Department of Cultural Affairs of the Government of Kerala. Since 1998, the awards have been controlled by the Kerala State Chalachitra Academy, an autonomous, non-profit institution functioning under the Department of Cultural Affairs.^[1] The awardees are decided by an independent jury constituted every year by the Academy.^[2] They are announced by the Minister for Cinema and are presented by the Chief Minister.^[3]

Throughout the years, accounting for ties and repeat winners, the Government of Kerala has presented a total of 49 Best Actor awards to 27 different actors. The recipients receive a figurine, a certificate, and a cash prize of ₹100,000 (US$1,500).^[4][5] Several actors have won the honour for more than one film in a given year. As of 2015, the only actor to have won the prize in consecutive years is Bharath Gopi (1982, 1983).

The first Kerala State film Awards ceremony was held in 1970 with Sathyan receiving the award for Kadalpalam (1969). In 1981, Nedumudi Venu received the honour for his performance in various films released that year. As of 2016, Mohanlal is the most honoured actor with six awards, followed by Mammootty with five. Two actors—Bharath Gopi and Murali—have won the award four times. Prithviraj Sukumaran is the youngest recipient at age 24 for Vaasthavam (2006); he replaced Mohanlal, who held this distinction for twenty years from 1986.^{[lower-alpha 1]} There were two years when there was a tie for the winner—Fahadh Faasil and Lal shared the honour in 2013 and Nivin Pauly and Sudev Nair in 2014. Dulquer Salmaan is the most recent winner in this category for his role in Charlie (2015).

Winners

Mohanlal has been the most frequent winner with six awards.

Mammootty has won the award five times.

Prithviraj Sukumaran is the youngest recipient of the award (at age 24), for his role in Vaasthavam (2006).

Indicates a joint award for that year

List of award recipients, showing the year and film(s)

Year	Recipient(s)	Film(s)	Ref.
1969	Sathyan	Kadalpalam	[7]
1970	Kottarakkara Sreedharan Nair	Aranazhika Neram	[8]
1971	Sathyan	Karakanakadal	[9]
1972	Thikkurissy Sukumaran Nair	Maya	[9]
1973	P. J. Antony	Nirmalyam	[9]
1974	Adoor Bhasi	Chattakari	[9]
1975	Sudheer	Sathyathinte Nizhalil	[9]
1976	M. G. Soman	Thanal Pallavi	[9]
1977	Bharath Gopi	Kodiyettam	[9]
1978	Sukumaran	Bandhanam	[9]
1979	Adoor Bhasi	Cheriyachante Kroorakrithyangal	[9]
1980	Achankunju	Lorry	[9]
1981	Nedumudi Venu	Various	[10]
1982	Bharath Gopi	Ormakkayi	[10]
1983	Bharath Gopi	Ente Mamattikkuttiyammakku Rachana Kattathe Kilikkoodu Eenam	[10]
1984	Mammootty	Adiyozhukkukal	[10]
1985	Bharath Gopi	Chidambaram	[11]
1986	Mohanlal	T. P. Balagopalan M.A.	[10]
1987	Nedumudi Venu	Oru Minnaminunginte Nurunguvettam	[10]
1988	Premji	Piravi	[10]
1989	Mammootty	Oru Vadakkan Veeragatha Mrigaya Mahayanam	[10]
1990	Thilakan	Perumthachan	[10]
1991	Mohanlal	Abhimanyu Ulladakkam Kilukkam	[12]
1992	Murali	Aadhaaram	[12]
1993	Mammootty	Vidheyan Ponthan Mada Vatsalyam	[12]
1994	Thilakan	Gamanam Santhanagopalam	[12]
1995	Mohanlal	Spadikam Kalapani	[12]
1996	Murali	Kanakkinavu	[12]
1997	Suresh Gopi	Kaliyattam	[12]
1998	Murali	Thalolam	[12]
1999	Mohanlal	Vaanaprastham	[12]
2000	O. Madhavan	Sayahnam	[13]
2001	Murali	Neythukaran	[13]
2002	Oduvil Unnikrishnan	Nizhalkuthu	[13]
2003	Nedumudi Venu	Margam	[13]
2004	Mammootty	Kaazhcha	[13]
2005	Mohanlal	Thanmathra	[13]
2006	Prithviraj Sukumaran	Vaasthavam	[13]
2007	Mohanlal	Paradesi	[13]
2008	Lal	Thalapavu	[13]
2009	Mammootty	Paleri Manikyam: Oru Pathirakolapathakathinte Katha	[13]
2010	Salim Kumar	Adaminte Makan Abu	[13]
2011	Dileep	Vellaripravinte Changathi	[13]
2012	Prithviraj Sukumaran	Celluloid Ayalum Njanum Thammil	[13]
2013	Fahadh Faasil	Artist North 24 Kaatham	[14]
	Lal	Ayaal Zachariayude Garbhinikal
2014	Nivin Pauly	1983 Bangalore Days	[15]
	Sudev Nair	My Life Partner
2015	Dulquer Salmaan	Charlie	[16]

Notes

References

External links

• Official website
• Department of Cultural Affairs
• Department of Information and Public Relations: Awardees list