NEW DELHI: President Pranab Mukherjee on the 104th anniversary of Indian cinema, presented the 64th National Film Awards to winners, including eminent film director and actor K. Viswanath who was named for the coveted Dadasaheb Phalke Award.
This time, regional cinema talent dominated over Bollywood in the winners’ list.
When Bollywood action star Akshay Kumar took the stage to receive his first National Award, the audience cheered and stood up to applaud his achievement. Akshay won the Best Actor honour for ‘Rustom’, and his wife Twinkle who was in the audience seemed emotional.
Akshay Kumar-Twinkle Khanna with their son before attending prestigious award ceremony. (PC: Instagram)
From Bollywood, there was also actress Sonam Kapoor who won a Special Mention for her role in ‘Neerja’, which was named the Best Hindi Film. Her father Anil Kapoor displayed childlike excitement as he stood up to capture the special moment.
Malayalam actress Surabhi C.M. received the Best Actress award for ‘Minnaminungu – The Firefly’ at the evening, which saw performances by Best Playback Singer award winners Sundharayyar and Iman Chakraborty.
The six industries of the south — Tamil, Telugu, Malayalam, Kannada, Tulu and Konkani – bagged a total of 18 awards, while movies from Assam, Bengal, Maharashtra and Manipur also won in different categories.
Marathi film ‘Kasaav’ won the Best Feature Film; filmmaker Rajesh Mapuskar was named as the Best Director for ‘Ventilator’ and the Best Popular Film Providing Wholesome Entertainment Award was given to Telugu film ‘Sathamanam Bhavathi’.
Winner of the Best Actress Award, Surabhi C.M. with Sonam Kapoor. (PC: Instagram)
The Best Film on Social Issues was given to Bollywood film ‘Pink’, while Nagesh Kukunoor collected the Best Children’s Film honour for ‘Dhanak’.
The Supporting Actors category saw Kashmiri girl Zaira Wasim and Manoj Joshi winning for their performances in ‘Dangal’ and ‘Dashakriya’ respectively.
There were special mentions for films ‘Kadvi Hawa’ and ‘Mukti Bhawan’ as well as for actor Adil Hussain for ‘Mukti Bhawan’ and ‘Maj Rati Keteki’. Veteran actor Mohanlal was chosen for a Special Jury Award for his performance in three films, and he got a standing ovation too.
The Best Special Effects went to Naveen Paul for ‘Shivaay’, while the Best Animation Film was won by ‘Mahayoddha Rama’.
‘Ventilator’ bagged three National Awards. (PC: Instagram)
Other awards included: Best Film on Environment Conservation/ Preservation for Manipuri movie ‘Loktak Lairembee’, Nargis Dutt Award for Best Feature Film on National Integration for Assamese movie ‘Dikchow Banat Palaax’; and Indira Gandhi Award for Best Debut Film of a Director went to Deep Choudhury for Bengali film ‘Alifa’.
A new award that has been constituted is Best Action Director (Stunt Choreography), which was won by Peter Hein for Malayalam film ‘Pulimurugam’.
The awards were also presented for the non-feature film category and for best writing on cinema.
First Published: 03 May 2017 10:32 PM
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