Mammootty makes history at Kerala State Film Awards 2025; Manjummel Boys wins big

The winners of the 55th Kerala State Film Awards were announced on Tuesday in Thrissur, with veteran actor Mammootty creating history by securing his seventh Best Actor award for his performance in Bramayugam. The awards were declared by Minister for Culture and Films Saji Cherian, with a seven-member jury chaired by actor Prakash Raj, HT reported.

The Malayalam hit Manjummel Boys, directed by Chidambaram S Poduval, emerged as the biggest winner of the night, bagging multiple top honours including Best Film, Best Director, Best Cinematography, Best Production Design, and Best Sound Design.

Mammootty’s milestone win places him ahead of Mohanlal and Urvashi, both of whom have six state awards each. Over his illustrious career, Mammootty has won Best Actor for acclaimed performances in films such as Adiyozhukkukal, Oru Vadakkan Veeragadha, Mrigaya, Vidheyan, Ponthan Mada, Vatsalyam, Kaazhcha, Paleri Manikyam, and Nanpakal Nerathu Mayakkam.

Actor Shamla Hamza won Best Actress for Feminichi Fathima, which also received recognition as Best Second Film, while debutant director Fasil Muhammed was honoured as Best Debut Director for the same.

Other major acting honours included Soubin Shahir (Manjummel Boys) and Sidharth Bharathan (Bramayugam), who shared the Best Character Actor (Male) award, while Lijomol Jose won Best Character Actor (Female) for Nadanna Sambhavam.

Tovino Thomas (ARM) and Asif Ali (Kishkindha Kaandam) received Special Jury Awards for acting, along with Jyothirmayi (Bougainvillea) and Darshana Rajendran (Paradise) on the female side.

The popular romantic comedy Premalu was named Best Popular Film, while acclaimed filmmaker Payal Kapadia received a Special Jury Award for women and transgender filmmakers for All We Imagine As Light, which recently made waves at Cannes.

Music and technical categories were dominated by Bougainvillea and Manjummel Boys. Composer Sushin Shyam won Best Music Director for Bougainvillea, while Christo Xavier took home Best Background Score for Bramayugam. Shyju Khalid’s cinematography in Manjummel Boys and Ajayan Chalissery’s art direction were also recognised.

With Manjummel Boys continuing its dream run and Mammootty’s record-breaking victory, this year’s Kerala State Film Awards underline Malayalam cinema’s balance of artistic excellence and mass appeal.