The 66th National Film Awards was held in New Delhi on Monday. Vice President M Venkaiah Naidu handed over the honour to several celebrities like Ayushmann Khurrana, Vicky Kaushal, Akshay Kumar, Keerthy Suresh and Sanjay Leela Bhansali who had excelled in cinema this year.
Ayushmann Khurrana, who is known in the industry for his versatile roles was honoured with the Best Actor award for playing the role of a blind piano player in Andhadhun. He was felicitated by M Venkaiah Naidu, Union Minister for Information and Broadcasting, Prakash Javadekar, and other senior dignitaries.
Ayushmann shared the Best Actor honour with Vicky Kaushal. The latter grabbed the award for his performance as an Indian Army officer in Uri: The Surgical Strike.
Uri's director Aditya Dhar won the Best Director award. Speaking to PTI after the ceremony, the debutant director said, "It is the best feeling. Since childhood whenever I used to think about getting into films, the first thought that would come to my mind was to win the National Award one day and receiving it for my debut film is surreal".
South Indian actress Keerthy Suresh bagged Best Actress trophy for her performance in Telugu movie Mahanati. Keerthy had a broad smile on her face when she received the top honour from the vice president.
It was also an emotional moment for veteran actress Surekha Sikri who was bestowed with her third National Award for Badhaai Ho. She bagged the award in Best Supporting Actress (Female) category. Surekha, who has not been keeping well arrived in a wheelchair to receive the award.
Akshay Kumar, who had previously won National Award for Rustom, was conferred with Best Film on Social Issue category for his film PadMan which was produced by his wife Twinkle Khanna.
Sanjay Leela Bhansali's Padmaavat won big in the song and dance categories. Arijit Singh won Best Male Playback Singer for the song "Binte dil misriya mein", while the ace director himself won in the Best Music Direction category. The Bajirao Mastani director was honoured by vice-president M Venkaiah Naidu and minister Prakash Javadekar.
Padmaavat's classic song Ghoomar Kruti Mahesh Madya and Jyoti Tomar won the Best Choreography awards for the song Ghoomar. Kruti gladly accepted the award from the vice-president.
The Best Child actor award went to Talha Arshad Reshi for Hamid. The Rasika Dugal starrer which explores the bond between an eight-year-old boy and a CRPF trooper was also named Best Urdu Film at the 66th National Film Awards.
Veteran actor Amitabh Bachchan was supposed to be honoured with the prestigious 50th Dadasaheb Phalke Award, Indian cinema's biggest honour in his 50th year in the Indian film industry. But the actor on Sunday announced his regret in attending the awards due to his health restrictions.
Traditionally, the National Awards are handed out to the winners by the President of India, but this time around President Ram Nath Kovind could not attend the ceremony. With the next year promising to have more path-breaking films and high octane acting, it will be interesting to see who grabs the industry's most prestigious award in 2020.
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