Grand Curtain Raiser for ‘Santosham South Indian Film Awards & OTT Awards 2025’ – A Star-Studded Evening in Hyderabad
The Curtain Raiser Event of Santosham South Indian Film Awards and Santosham OTT Awards 2025 was held in a grand and celebratory manner on Saturday evening at the Film Nagar Cultural Center, Hyderabad. The event saw the presence of many eminent personalities from the film industry, including senior actors, veteran producers, business heads, and sponsors.
Veteran actor Murali Mohan, producers K.S. Rama Rao, Edida Raja, Rama Satyanarayana, Film Nagar Housing Society Secretary Kaja Suryanarayana, VVK Housing India Pvt. Ltd. head Valluru Vijay Kumar, and Surya Sem Directors Anil and Dr. Suresh Babu graced the occasion as special guests. Sri Vijaya Varahi Movies supported the event as a co-sponsor, while Aditya Music partnered as the official music sponsor.
As part of the event, the official date poster for the Santosham Film and OTT Awards 2025 was unveiled by the dignitaries. Several guests used the occasion to reflect on the impactful journey of Santosham magazine and its founder Suresh Kondeti, praising his commitment and tireless efforts.
Kaja Suryanarayana shared, “Suresh has been a close friend for many years. He used to stay in one floor of our house with his family and ran the Santosham magazine office on another. He is known for organizing grand events with a smile on his face. I sincerely hope this year’s event is also a big success.”
Producer Edida Raja added, “Suresh is friends with everyone. He manages these events almost single-handedly. I’m curious and excited to see how grand this year’s edition will be.”
K.S. Rama Rao remarked, “It takes governments years to organize cultural events. But here is one man, Suresh, who has consistently pulled off the Santosham Awards for 24 years. During tough times, I even appointed him as the Additional Chairman of the FNCC Cultural Committee. He never shows his struggles he always greets everyone with a smile. I hope this 24th edition will be another milestone.”
Veteran actor Murali Mohan praised the legacy of the event, saying, “Santosham is the only magazine to consistently conduct film awards for 24 years, aside from Filmfare. Even large media houses have failed to sustain such initiatives. Suresh alone has made this possible, despite challenges. Though I’m away from the industry, I keep up with the film world through his daily updates on YouTube. I thank all the sponsors and promise our full support to make this year’s event a grand success.”
VVK India Pvt. Ltd. head Valluru Vijay Kumar expressed his happiness, saying, “Out of all the functions I’ve been part of, this one gives me the most satisfaction. Every awardee at Santosham feels they’ve truly achieved something. Suresh Kondeti is uplifting so many with these awards. I hope this year’s function on August 16th at JRC Convention becomes the grandest ever.”
Surya Sem Director Anil shared, “It’s no small thing to run an event like this with such dedication for 24 years. Wishing Suresh all the best for another successful edition.”
Surya Sem Director Dr. Suresh Babu recalled, “Back in our college days, we used to sneak out of hostels to buy Santosham film magazines. Now, being sponsors for this event is a matter of pride. We thank Suresh garu for this opportunity.”
Santosham magazine head Suresh Kondeti concluded the evening with an emotional speech:
“I sincerely thank all the dignitaries who attended today. I’ve been a journalist for 35 years, distributed over 85 films, produced 16 films, and worked as a PRO for around 600 films including ones for stars like Chiranjeevi, Balakrishna, and Rajinikanth. Chiranjeevi garu and Nagarjuna garu have been like two eyes for me in my career. In 2002, at our first Santosham Awards, Nagarjuna garu encouraged me to make this event as big as Filmfare. Since then, I made it my mission to continue this event for at least 25 years. This is our 24th edition.
In 2007, we hosted the event at the Sharjah Cricket Stadium in Dubai with 40,000 attendees and flew 120 guests including superstar Mahesh Babu via Emirates flights. Recently, during the Goa event, a few minor logistical issues were unnecessarily blown out of proportion. I’ve never written anything negative about anyone in my magazine. I’ve never knowingly done anything wrong in this industry.
Santosham Awards is like wearing a crown of thorns. Even legends like Akkineni Nageswara Rao garu once advised me to not take on such a heavy burden. But I persisted. I thank KS Rama Rao garu for supporting me during hard times by appointing me as FNCC Cultural Committee Additional Chairman. Murali Mohan garu has always stood by me too.
During a recent visit to Tirupati, Anil garu and his partner deposited ₹10 lakhs in advance for the next event, which felt like a divine sign from Lord Venkateswara. I’m thankful to all my sponsors. With your continued support, I promise this year’s event will be more grand and successful than ever before.
