MUMBAI: After a successful Radio City Cine Awards Tamil 2017, the brand decided to applaud the artiste and technicians of Kannada film fraternity too. For which Radio City has announced Radio City Awards Kannada, 2017. This will provide transparent access to listeners to cast their vote and support their favourite Kannada superstars. The launch event was held at Mantri Square, Bengaluru, hosted by Radio City RJs - RJ Pradeepa and RJ Nethra.

Organised earlier for patrons of Kollywood cinema, Radio City Cine Awards Tamil 2017, over eight days witnessed stupendous success in Tamil Nadu. With over 69,76,455 votes from listeners, the grand finale saw renowned artistes like Favorite Actor – Vijay Sethupathi and Favorite Actress – Keerthi Suresh and AR Rahman (Best Music Composer) among others being crowned as the winners. 

To add to the festivities of Navratri and in honour of Goddess Durga, the grand event was graced by leading ladies of the Sandalwood industry Shruti Hariharan, Suman Ranganathan, Radhika Chethan, Sharmila Mandre, Sangeeta Bhat, Neethu Shetty, Manvitha Harish, Sparsha Rekha, Karunya Raam and Hitha Chandrashekar and actor Srinagar Kitty (Hero).

At launch of this one of a kind initiative Radio City CEO Abraham Thomas said, “Very few award platforms aim to empower the consumer and recognize talent based on public opinion. We are certain that Radio City Cine Awards will not only be a platform for our listeners and the audience to choose their favourite artistes, but will also be a catalyst between Kannada stars and their fans.”

He further added, “We extend our best wishes to all the artists and technicians who have made 2017 an entertaining year for Kannadigas and look forward to felicitating them at the grand finale.” 

Commenting on the launch of the Radio City Cine Awards, Suman Ranganathan said “Movies are intrinsic to our culture and amongst the most common forms of entertainment in Karnataka and the rest of India. Radio City Cine Awards is a great initiative by Radio City that not only provides recognition to artistes and technicians who have worked hard through the year but also empowers the listeners by allowing them to nominate and vote for their favourite celebrities. I am certain that Radio City Cine Awards will go a long way in upholding the trust of listeners and enable them to show their immense passion towards the Kannada film industry.”

Through this one of a kind initiative, Radio City Cine Awards Kannada aims to strengthen the connection between the listeners and their favourite celebrities. Just like Radio City Cine Awards Tamil, nominees and winners will be determined based on public voting which will be available via traditional mediums on-air, SMS and new-age mediums Facebook, Twitter, WhatsApp. The unique selection process will allow listeners from the city ke kone-kone se to vote for their favourite stars.

The favourite celebrities will be nominated under 10 different categories like Favourite Actor, Favourite Actress, Favourite Director, Favourite Lyricist, Favourite Music Composer, Favourite Singer (Male), Favourite Singer (Female), Favourite Comedian, Favourite Cinematographer and Favourite Movie. The voting for public will be open from today across platforms mentioned above. This will culminate into a grand award night on-air where the winners will be announced and felicitated. Listeners from Bangalore can vote through WhatsApp by sending a message to the number- 9310111911 and cast their votes directly on the website: radiocity.in

To make the celebration grandeur, Radio City will also kick start the sixth year of ‘Studio Ratha’ an annual celebration of Dussehra in Bangalore. Radio City’s most popular morning show ‘Aithalakdi Mornings’ will be aired live for five days from the Ratha and the listeners will get a chance to meet their favourite RJ’s and go on air from the Studio Ratha. Many renowned celebrities from Bangalore will be a part of the Studio Ratha along with the RJ’s, to interact with the fans. The activity will be spanning for five days, covering Bangalore ka kona kona starting 25 September.