Shyamaprasad's 'Ore Kadal' and debutant director Babu Thiruvalla's `Thaniye' shared the award for the best film in the Critics Awards announced this week.

‘Nivedyam' directed by Lohithadas was chosen the second best film by the jury. Mohanlal was named the best actor for his performance in `Paradesi' while Lakshmi Gopalaswamy's roles in `Paradesi' and `Thaniye' fetched her the best actress award.

Shyamaprasad was named best director of the year while renowned director Adoor Gopalakrishnan would be conferred with `Chalachitra Rathnam' award for his contribution to cinema. The award comprises a purse of Rs 30,000 cash and citation. Nedumudi Venu won the second best actor for his lead performance in ‘Thaniye’ while Sreenivasan was given a special award for acting and best screenplay.

The awards in the music section went to East coast Vijayan for best lyrics and M Jayachandran for best music direction. The recipients of the other awards that were announced includes Parvathi (second best actress) for ‘Flash’, Azhagappan (cinematography), Vijay Yesudas (male playback singer), Swetha Mohan (female playback singer), P C Mohanan (editing), Kalavoor Ravikumar (director, best children's film), Bhama (best debut actor), Sreelal Devaraj and M Mohanan (debut directors).

The awards, instituted by Kerala Film Critics Association will give away in a ceremony, later next month.