National Film Awards winners react with joy and pride

Its been a Bollywood sweep at the National Film Awards this year and the industry is rejoicing since Friday afternoon The winners ndash especially young firsttime winners such as Ayushmann Khurrana and Vicky Kaushal ndash are overjoyed to say the leastAyushmann and Vicky won the Best Actor National Award jointly for Andhadhun and Uri The Surgical Strike respectively and both actors are proud that their hard work has paid off at such an early stage of their careerDescribing the experience as truly humbling and hugely gratifying Ayushmann said the honour was a validation of my hard work my belief system my journey in movies and my reason to be an actor He said director Sriram Raghavan deserved all the accolades for creating a new genre of cinema for Indian audiences to enjoy and that he was truly fortunate to be a part of Sriram Raghvans vision As an artiste Andhadhun challenged me and made me a better actor he added promising to continue on the journey to discover and back cinema that truly stands apart and brings people back into the theatresVicky admitted he was too excited to describe how he felt Words might fall short to describe the happiness Im feeling right now For my work to be recognised by the honourable National Film Awards Jury is truly a moving moment for me and my family I wish to thank each and every member of the jury committee for finding me worthy of the prestigious Best Actor Award he saidAbout Ayushmann Vicky added Im also very happy to be sharing the award with someone whom I admire both as a person and as an actorAditya Dhar won Best Director for Uri and he believes his key to success is not giving up Success consists of going from failure to failure without loss of enthusiasm Fifteen years of failures rejections and hard work has lead to this moment and it just cant get better than this This is an honour I am going to cherish for the rest of my life Being conferred with the National Award has been a dream since I understood what films meant to me said Aditya thanking his family producers and the awards jury and dedicating the honour to all the soldiers at the border You have selflessly dedicated your life to serve us and now its our time to dedicate everything we have to serve youSanjay Leela Bhansalis Padmaavat won big in the song and dance categories Arijit Singh won Best Male Playback Singer for the song Binte dil misriya mein and Bhansali won Best Music Direction Songs Kruti Mahesh Madya and Jyoti Tomar won the Best Choreography awards for the song GhoomarIm very happy and honoured Music has always been a very important part of my life so this award is very special said BhansaliPad Man won the award for Best Film on Social Issue Akshay Kumar stars in the film coproduced by his wife Twinkle KhannaI was in the midst of lsquoMission Mangal promotions when Tina his wife Twinkle called me asking if lsquoPad Man had actually won a National Award for Best Film On Social Issues The tiredness of promotions vanished on hearing the news I remember how on the sets of lsquoPad Man Sonam and I got the news of winning our respective National Awards last year So life has come a full circle I couldnt be happier for Tina for winning the award with her debut production and of course R Balki for putting it all together besides the entire team behind Pad Man Not just that Swanand Kirkire won Best Supporting Actor for lsquoChumbak a Marathi film I presented Its been a rewarding day said AkshayPad Man director R Balki was happy that the film had addressed the vitalissue of the need for sanitary hygiene among rural women I dont expect any awards for any of the films I do I just hope people like it I hoped so for This film especially because it catches a subject that hasnt been packaged anywhere in the world To make a mainstream Hindi film on this subject was a fantastic thing and thats what I am very happy about Also the award truly belongs to Arunachalam Muruganantham said Balki referring to the man whose life and struggle to create cheap sanitary pads for rural women inspired the filmBadhaai Ho won awards for Best Popular Film Award and also the award for Best Supporting Actress for Surekha Sikri Director Amit Ravindernath Sharma described the situation as overwhelmingWhen we made this film we didnt expect it to receive such a reception Sharma recalled adding Its nothing short of a dream come trueSurekha Sikri tanked the writers of the uncomnventional entertainer I am feeling really excited about this It makes me so happy I want to congratulate the writers of the film They wrote a very good script I also thank Amit Sharma for directing this film she saidBadhaai Ho producer Aleya Sen added The win encourages us to push the envelope and make films that the country will be proud ofThe win for Badhaai Ho was actually a double honour for Ayushmann Khurrana since he was the leading man of this film too Im glad that a subject like Badhaai Ho also won big today and I congratulate my director Amit Sharma for his breakthrough script that became a talking point in every household the actor said adding It was a pleasure to collaborate with a forwardthinking creative mind like him and disrupt the stereotyped notions of what Hindi cinema should beRima Das Bulbul Can Sing has been making waves of the international festivcal circuit for months now It picked up the Best Assamese Film trophy at the 66th National Film Awards Das who is currently in Melbourne said she was happy and overwhelmedThe Telugu film Mahanati won the Best Actress award for Keerthy Suresh and also Best Costume Designer for the team of Indrakshi Pattanaik Gaurang Shah and Archana RaoIt is a proud moment a dream come true I dedicate this award to my team weavers and the entire Mahanati family Collaborating with a film of this scale gave a terrific opportunity to showcase handwoven Indian saris with great pageantry and simplicity narrating the fashion sensibilities of the legendary actress Savitri The costumes of the film took 100 artisans and over a year to make said Gaurang about designing costumes for the film a biopic of the iconic actress SavithriThe short feature Chalo Jeete Hain won the award for Best Film on Family Values With extreme gratitude and humility we accept this great honour and dedicate this award to our hardworking and most inspiring Prime Minister Shri Narendra Damodardas Modi says director Mangesh Hadawale and producer Mahaveer Jain in a joint statement This is the duos second national awardAlso Read66th National Film Awards Andhadhun wins Best Film Ayushmann and Vicky share Best Actor AwardCatch up on all the latest entertainment news and gossip here Also download the new midday Android and iOS apps to get latest updates