Tamil sensation Suriya and actress Aparna Balamurali starrer ‘Soorarai Pottru’ a semi-biographical film won big at the 68th edition of the National Film Awards sweeping 3 out of the 4 major categories at the ceremony. The movie won the awards for best actor, best actress, and best feature film category.
While Tanhaji: The Unsung Warrior was recognized as the best popular film. The declaration for the 68th edition of the award was announced by the Union Minister for Information and Broadcasting Anurag Thakur through his Twitter handle earlier today.
Among the individual categories, Ajay Devgn for Tanhaji: The Unsung Warrior shared the award for best actor with Suriya at the ceremony. Malayalam film ‘AK Ayyappanum Koshiyum’ won two awards in the major category, Sachidanandan KR won the best director award posthumously, while Biju Menon joined the filmmaker in the best supporting actor role.
Another Tamil film ‘Sivaranjiniyum Innum Sila Pengalum found a spot in the major section in the form of Lakshmi Priyaa Chandramouli who won the best supporting actress award.
The jury of the ceremony made a special reference to the child actor, Varun Buddhadeb, for his performance in Rajiv Kapoor and Sanjay Dutt starrer Toolsidas Junior.
In special recognition, Madhya Pradesh won the award for being the most film-friendly state. In this year’s edition of the awards over 300 feature films and 150 non-feature films are competing for the awards in 50 categories from 30 different languages all around the country.
The Dadasaheb Phalke Award, presented for "outstanding contribution to the growth and development of Indian cinema", will be announced at a later meet, the jury informed.
Filmmaker Vipul Shah led the 10-member jury for the 68th National Film Awards. As per ANI, other members include cinematographers Dharam Gulati and GS Bhaskar, actor Sreelekha Mukherjee, as well as A Karthikraaja, VN Aditya, Viji Thampi, Sanjeev Rattan, S Thangadurai, and Nishigandha.
Anurag Thakur congratulated all the winners at the ceremony through a video message released on the Twitter handle of PIB @PIB_India.
The physical ceremony for the National Film Awards was held in Delhi after two years. Last year, the awards were announced but not presented at a ceremony due to the Covid-19 pandemic.