Thiruvananthapuram: Veteran Malayalam film-maker and lyricist Sreekumaran Thampi has been chosen for this year's J C Daniel Award.
State minister for cultural affairs A K Balan announced the award, which is the highest honour instituted by the Kerala government for film personalities for their lifetime achievements.
The award, carrying a prize of Rs 5 lakh, citation and statuette, will be presented to Thampi during the Kerala State film awards function at Kollam, Balan said.
The award committee, comprising veteran actor Madhu and director Sathyan Anthikkad, Chalachitra Academy chairman Kamal and cultural secretary, Rani George selected Thampi for the honour.
Thampi was introduced to the Malayalam film industry in 1966 by P Subramaniam as a lyricist in 'Kaattumallika'.
Thampi, who excelled in various fields of film making such as direction, script writing and music composing, has produced 22 films.
He has directed 30 films including 'Venalil Oru Mazha', 'Ganam', 'Mohiniyattam', 'Nayattu' and 'Yuvajanolsavam'. He also wrote script for 78 films. 'Ammakkoru Tharattu', featuring Madhu and Sarada in the lead roles, is the last film he has directed.
He also directed 13 TV serials.
M T Vasudevan Nair, Adoor Gopalakrishnan, K G George and the late I V Sasi are some of the winners of the prestigious award.