The winners of the Indian Film Festival of Melbourne (IFFM) 2021 were announced in a virtual award ceremony due to the novel coronavirus pandemic. Suriya, Samantha Akkineni, Vidya Balan and Manoj Bajpayee won top honours at the film festival. While Suriya won the Best Performance Male (Feature), Samantha won the Best Performance Female (Series). Director Sudha Kongara Prasad’s Soorarai Pottru won the Best Film award.
Suriya thanked the jury and wrote, “Truly an honour Sir! @DannyPearsonMP @IFFMelb.”
.@IFFMelb you made it very special for us with 2 awards! Thank you #SudhaKongara for making me Maara… and trusting @2D_ENTPVTLTD #SooraraiPottru team this is for you..!
@CaptGopinath @gvprakash @Aparnabala2 @nikethbommi @editorsuriya @jacki_art @rajsekarpandian @PrimeVideoIN pic.twitter.com/tIKb2XjHNM— Suriya Sivakumar (@Suriya_offl) August 20, 2021
Taking to Instagram, Samantha wrote, “Thankyou @iffmelbourne. I am so so grateful .. Thankyouuu @rajanddk for being able to see beyond the ‘cute girl’ image that many couldn’t look past .. as an actor I dreamed of being given such an opportunity.. the chance to play a layered and intense role. #Raji forced me to dig deep .. and I am beyond happy today to receive a certificate of approval for the performance.”
