MUMBAI: Amrita TV’s reality show Best Actor, held at Calicut on 25 January, was won by Calicut’s Surabhi Lekshmi. Four finalists were vying for the title of Oxywash Best Actor but the BA Bharatanatyam student at Sree Sankaracharya University eventually took away the title.

Surabhi, 20, has also been a topper in youth festivals. As the winner she will enjoy a free US trip to Hollywood studios and sessions with two top celebrities in the field of theatre arts. She has also won a trip to Schools of Drama in Yale and New York, and an opportunity to participate in auditions at a Broadway. She will also have the opportunity to work with prominent film makers in Malayalam.

The runner-up, who won an Alto car, was 22-year-old Sidhartha Siva from Thiruvalla. Sidharth, pursuing MA in English Literature from Mar Thoma College, Tiruvalla has been engaged in direction and acting and has also released a collection of poems.

Out of the 20 contestants who were shortlisted from the thousands who appeared for screen tests in Mumbai, Bangalore, Chennai and Kerala, the four finalists who reached the finals through an elimination process of public SMS voting were Deepika, Gireesh, Sidharth and Surabhi.

As part of the finale, Amrita TV honored a few veterans by way of giving mementos in recognition of their ‘Remarkable Contributions in the field of Theatre Arts’. This included K.T.Mohammed, Kozhikode Santhadevi, Nilambur Aysha, Vasu Pradeep, K.R.Mohandas and Ahwan Sebastian.

The Best Actor finale will be telecast by Amrita TV for its audiences worldwide on Sunday, 3 February.