Bengaluru: The 7th Chandanavana Film Critics Academy Awards ceremony was recently held at Jnana Jyothi Auditorium in Bengaluru, where artists and technicians from films released in 2025 were honoured.

The Best Actor award was presented to Rishab Shetty for his performance in Kantara: Chapter 1, while the Best Actress award went to Ashika Ranganath for her role in Gatavaibhava.

The Best Film award for 2025 was also won by Kantara: Chapter 1.

The film emerged as the biggest winner of the evening, securing awards in a total of nine categories.

In addition, a special honour award was presented to Sukrath Srijan Lokesh, the great-grandson of Subbaiah Naidu, who is remembered as the first lead actor of Kannada talkie cinema.

The Lifetime Achievement Award was conferred on veteran director Rajendra Singh Babu.

The awards recognised outstanding contributions by actors, filmmakers and technicians from Kannada cinema during the year.