At the 63rd Indian National Film Awards ceremony in New Delhi on Tuesday, Amitabh Bachchan and Kangana Ranaut won best actor and best actress awards.
President Pranab Mukherjee presented the awards at a ceremony in Vigyan Bhavan, which was attended by talent from movie industries across India.
A total of 21 awards were given by the President in the non-feature film category; 51 in the feature film category; and three for best writing on cinema.
While Bachchan, dressed in a black suit, picked up the award for his act as a Bengali father in Piku, Ranaut, looking radiant in off-shoulder gown, won the prize for her role in Tanu Weds Manu Returns. She has previously won National Awards twice, for Fashion and Queen.
In the feature film category, the award for the best feature film was given to filmmaker S.S. Rajamouli’s southern magnum opus Bahubali: The Beginning, produced by Shobu Yarlagadda and Arka Mediaworks Pvt Ltd.
The talent of the Hindi film industry was lauded along with regional film industries such as Bengali, Marathi, Punjabi, Tamil, Telugu and Assamese.
The President said that “Indian films truly reflected the Indian character of unity and diversity”.
Mukherjee complimented the award winners, who included newcomers as well as legends of Indian cinema, and added that the awards this year reflected all aspects of cinema, including digitisation and technology.
Another big winner of the night was Bajirao Mastani — the tragic romance saga of Maratha warrior Peshwa Bajirao I (played by Ranveer Singh) and Mastani (Deepika Padukone). Sanjay Leela Bhansali got the best director award for it and Remo D’Souza won a nod for Best Choreography.
Shriram Iyengar, Saloni Dhatrak and Sujeet Sawant won for the movie’s production design.
In the audiography section, Biswadeep Chatterjee’s sound designing and Justin Ghose’s re-recording of the final mixed track were recognised.
Masaan, directed by Neeraj Ghaywan and produced by Phantom Films, received the Indira Gandhi Award for best debut film of a director.
Actor Salman Khan’s on-screen journey to Pakistan from India via Bajrangi Bhaijaan was named the best popular film providing wholesome entertainment. The film’s director Kabir Khan, looking sophisticated in black bandhgala, received the award.
The gala also witnessed the performances by 63rd National Film Award winners including Monali Thakur, who was named the best female playback singer for the song Moh Moh Ke Dhaage from Dum Laga Ke Haisha, and Mahesh Kale, who was named best playback singer (male) for the Marathi film Katyar Kaljat Ghusli.
Filmmaker Vishal Bhardwaj won the best screenplay writer (adapted) title for Talvar. The best screenplay writer (original) title was shared by Juhi Chaturvedi (Piku) and Himanshu Kumar (Tanu Weds Manu Returns).
Just after the announcement of the award winners in March, questions surfaced over why regional cinema and talent had been sidelined.
Thus, the President spoke of the importance of films in the context of variety and diversity of India and the important role they played in unifying the nation.
Bachchan, already a winner of three National Film Awards — for Agneepath, Black and Paa — was cheered by his family including wife, Jaya, son Abhishek, daughter-in-law, Aishwarya Rai, and daughter, Shweta Nanda.
Meanwhile, veteran Tanvi Azmi won the best supporting actress award for her act in Bajirao Mastani, and actress Shabana Azmi and her husband, Javed Akhtar, were seen celebrating her win. In fact, they were so excited that they went on photo clicking spree when her name was announced.
The award for the best children’s film was given to Duronto (Hindi), produced by Code Red Films. Gaurav Menon was given the award for best child artist for his role in movie Ben (Malayalam).
The award for the best music direction (songs) was given to M. Jayachandran for Ennu Ninte Moideen (Malayalam) and the award for the best music direction (Background Score) was given to Ilaiyaraaja for Thaarai Thappattai (Tamil).
Bollywood also took home some music awards — the prize for the best lyrics, for instance, was given to Varun Grover for the song Moh Moh Ke Dhaage from the film Dum Laga Ke Haisha.
A special jury award was given to Kalki Koechlin, who wore an off-white sari with green border, for the film Margarita with a Straw.
This year, the National Film Awards included a special award given to the state of Gujarat for being the most film-friendly state in the country, and veteran film actor and director Manoj Kumar was given the 47th Dadasaheb Phalke Award at the function.
