Josh high at 66th National Film Awards as Uri, Padmaavat win big
1 min read . Updated: 09 Aug 2019, 04:48 PM IST- Andhadhun directed by Sriram Raghavan won the best feature film in Hindi award
- Debut filmmaker Aditya Dhar won the best director award
NEW DELHI: The 'josh' was very high at the 66th National Film Award announcements where two of the top four honours were bagged by blockbuster war drama Uri: The Surgical Strike. Debut filmmaker Aditya Dhar won the best director award while his male lead Vicky Kaushal shared the award for best actor along with Ayushmann Khuranna for black comedy thriller Andhadhun.
Gujarati film Hellaro was awarded best film while Keerthy Suresh won best actress for her portrayal as iconic yesteryear star Savitri in Telugu film Mahanati. Bollywood also won big with awards for best music director (Sanjay Leela Bhansali for Padmaavat), best film providing wholesome entertainment (Badhaai Ho) and best supporting actress (Surekha Sikri for Badhaai Ho), best adapted screenplay (Andhadhun) and best male playback singer Arjit Singh (Padmaavat’s Binte Dil).
Andhadhun directed by Sriram Raghavan was also the best feature film in Hindi.
Kannada language film Nathicharami was the other big winner of the day, taking away the award for best feature film in Kannada, best lyrics (Mansore), best editing (Nagendra K Ujjani) and best female playback singer (Bindhu Malini).
The Nargis Dutt Awared for best feature film on national integration went to Ondalla Eradalla (Kannada) while the honours for best child artiste were shared by P V Rohith for Ondalla Eradalla (Kannada), Sameep Singh for Harjeeta (Punjabi), Talha Arshad Reshi for Hamid (Urdu) and Shrinivas Pokale for Naal (Marathi).
Popular lyricist Swanand Kirkire won best supporting actor for his performance in Marathi film Chumbak while Sudhakar Reddy Yakkanti’s Naal was awarded best debut film of a director.
Arjedha, Sudani from Nigeria, Bulbul Can Sing, Mahanati, Hamid, Bhonga and Turtle picked up awards for best feature film in the Punjabi, Malayalam, Assamese, Telugu, Urdu, Marathi and Rajasthani languages.
Established in 1954, the National Film Awards have been administered by the Directorate of Film Festivals, along with the International Film Festival of India and the Indian Panorama. Apart from being considered the ultimate recognition for films, the awards also hold the distinction of recognizing merit across the country and especially in regional cinema.
Every year, a national panel is appointed by the government to select winning entries which are then awarded by the president at a ceremony held in New Delhi. The jury was chaired by veteran film-maker Rahul Rawail this year. “The decision of the jury has been unanimous and conscientious," Rawail said before announcing the winners.
