The 50th Annual Manikchand Filmfare Awards ceremony(South Indian films) will be held at the Gachibowli Indoor Stadium in Hyderabad on May 24th 2003. Though most of the prestigious awards in India are limited to Hindi filmdom, every year the Filmfare Awards recognize and honor excellence in South Indian cinemas - Kannada, Telugu, Malayalam and Tamil. Widely recognized as 'Indian Oscars', the Annual Filmfare Awards celebrates its Golden Jubilee this year in the South. Apart from the Best Film, Best Director, Best Actor-Actress, Best Music Director awards, they are introducing additional categories for Best Playback Singer, Best Newcomer, Best Technician and Best Choreographer in Kannada, Malayalam Telegu and Tamil films sections. Four new categories - Best Villain, Best Comedian, Best Supporting Actor/Actress are also being introduced for Tamil and Telugu films from this year. While ace director Girish Kasaravalli's film Dweepa bagged the best Kannada film award, director K Raghavendra Rao and veteran Kannada film actor Sahasa Simha Vishnuvardhan will be receiving Filmfare Life Achievement Awards.

Kannada Film Section:
Best Film	- Dweepa (Girish Kasaravalli)
Best Director	- Girish Kasaravalli (Dweepa)
Best Actor	- Sudeep (Nandi)
Best Actress	- Soundarya (Dweepa)
Best Music Director	- Gurukiran (Dhum)
Telugu Film Section :
Best Film	- Dr KL Narayanas Santosham
Best Director	- Krishna Vamsi (Khadgam)
Best Actor	- Chiranjeevi (Indra)
Best Actress	- Sada (Jayam)
Best Music Director	- R P Patnaik
Malayalam Film Section:
Best Film	- Nandanam
Best Director	- Lal Jose (Meesa Madhavan)
Best Actor	- Dilip (Meesa Madhavan)
Best Actress	- Navya Nair (Nandanam)
Best Music Director	- Vidyasagar (Meesa Madhavan)
Tamil film Section:
Best Film	- Azhagi
Best Director	- Maniratnam (Kannathil Muthamittal)
Best Actor	- Ajith (Villain)
Best Actress	- Simran (Kannathil Muthamittal)
Best Music Director	- Bharadwaj (Gemini)

This news in Kannada