Superstar Mammootty, who played stellar roles in the Malayalam films "Kazhca" and "Vesham" last year, has been named the best actor in the prestigious Ujala-Asianet 2004 film awards.

Of the 19 awards, "Kazhca" bagged five. The other awards won by the debut film of director Blessy were best film, best new actress (Padmapriya), best cinematographer (Azhakappan) and best child artiste (Master Yash).

"Close to 10,000 people took part in the opinion poll after which a three-member Asianet jury selected the final winners," N. Madhavan, managing director of Asianet, told reporters here Friday.

This is the seventh edition of the film awards jointly given by Ujala and the leading Malayalam TV channel Asianet.

Ace director Kamal bagged the best director award for his film "Perumazhakkalam".

"Perumazhakkalam" also won the best actress award for Meera Jasmine, the special jury award for Kavya Madhavan, the best scriptwriter award for T.A. Razak, the best male playback singer for P. Jayachandran and best editing award for Rajagopal.

Upcoming star Dileep won the special jury award for his role in "Kathavaseshan" while Prithviraj and Geetu Mohandas bagged the special mention award.

The best supporting male and female actor awards went to Innocent and Gopika respectively for their roles in "Vesham".

Veteran comedy artiste Jagathy Sreekumar, who has acted in 1,100 films, was given the lifetime achievement award.

The awards would be formally presented at a ceremony at Kochi March 27. The total prize money for the 19 awards is Rs.650,000.