Keerthy Suresh, Ayushmann Khurrana, Vicky Kaushal And Others Receive Their Prizes

New Delhi:

The National Awards ceremony finally took place, extremely belatedly, in New Delhi’s Vigyan Bhawan today, with Vice-President Venkaiah Naidu handing the awards out to the winners. This year’s Dadasaheb Phalke awardee Amitabh Bachchan, 77, could not attend, having shared the evening before that he was “down with fever.” Vice-President Naidu paid him tribute in his speech, calling Mr Bachchan “an institution by himself” – not many would disagree. Prakash Javadekar, Minister for Information and Broadcasting, noted the popularity of Indian films abroad, particularly China. He also made special mentions of some of the awardees, including Best Actors Ayushmann Khurrana and Vicky Kaushal, Best Actress Keerthy Suresh, and Akshay Kumar, whose movie PadMan won the award for Best Film on Social Issues.

Several awardees received rousing cheers from the gathering – Best Supporting Actress Surekha Sikri, who received her prize in a wheelchair, got a standing ovation. Ms Sikri was awarded for her performance in Badhaai Ho. The winners of the Best Music Direction prizes – Sanjay Leela Bhansali for “Padmaavat” and Shashwat Sachdev for Uri: The Surgical Strike – also received a big hand. The four winners of the Best Child Artiste award – P V Rohith for Ondalla Eradalla, Shrinivas Pokale for Naal, Sameep Ranaut for Harjeeta and Talha Arshad Reshi for Hamid – brought the house down.

Here are some pictures from the National Awards ceremony:

The list of winners of this year’s National Film Awards:

Best Feature Film – Hellaro (Gujarati)

Best Director – Aditya Dhar for Uri (Hindi)

Indira Gandhi Award For Best Debut Film Of A Director – Sudhakar Reddy Yakanti for Naal (Marathi)

Best Actress – Keerthy Suresh for Mahanati (Telugu)

Best Actor – Ayushmann Khurrana (AndhaDhun) and Vicky Kaushal (Uri)

Supporting Actress – Surekha Sikri for Badhaai Ho (Hindi)

Supporting Actor – Swanand Kirkire for Chumbak (Marathi)

Best Child Artiste – P V Rohith (Ondalla Eradalla), Sameep Singh (Harjeeta), Talha Arshad Resi (Hamid), Shrinivas Pokale (Naal)

Best Children’s Film – Sarkari Area Prathamika Shaale Kasaragod

Nargis Dutt Award For Best Film On National Integration – Ondalla Eradalla (Kannada)

Best Popular Film Providing Wholesome Entertainment – Badhaai Ho (Hindi)

Best Film On Environmental Conservation – Paani (Marathi)

Best Film on Social Issues – PadMan (Hindi)

Special Mention – Sruthi Hariharan (Nathicharami), Chandrachud Rai, Joju George (Joseph), Savithri Sreedharan (Sudani From Nigeria)

Best Rajasthani Film – Turtle

Best Marathi Film – Bhonga

Best Tamil Film – Baaram

Best Hindi Film – AndhaDhun

Best Urdu Film – Hamid

Best Bengali Film – Ek Je Chhilo Raja

Best Malayalam Film – Sudani From Nigeria

Best Telugu Film – Mahanati