President honours talent at 62nd National Film Awards

President Pranab Mukherjee presented the 62nd National Film Awards on Sunday at a glittering ceremony here studded with talent representing the diversity of the Indian film industry. Shashi Kapoor, honoured with the Dadasaheb Phalke award this year, couldn't attend and the veteran actor will be feted in Mumbai soon.

With 45 awards in Feature Film category and a total of 21 awards in the Non-Feature film category, the award ceremony was attended by talents from Bollywood along with regional film industries Bengali, Marathi, Punjabi, Tamil, Telugu and Assamese.

It also saw performances by 62nd National Film Award winners - Sukhwinder Singh, who won Best Male Playback Singer for the song "Bismil" from "Haider", and Uttara Unnikrishanan, who bagged the Best Playback Female Singer for the song "Azhagu" from Tamil movie "Saivam".

A special film on Shashi Kapoor was also shown on the occasion, where Pallavi Joshi and Rajat Kapoor played the hosts.

The president too gave "special congratulations" to the ailing 77-year-old actor.

"My special congratulation is to Shri Shashi Kapoor, who has been honoured with the Dadasaheb Phalke Award this year. His contribution to cinema has been tremendous. He is a true living legend. He began his career as a child artist in the films 'Aag' and 'Awara', and then we saw him as a flamboyant hero in many blockbuster films.

"He made his mark not only as an actor, but also as a producer and remarkable contribution to the Indian cinema, where he balanced his work in theatre and cinema. Shri Sashi Kapoor is the third person to win the Dadasaheb Phalke award in his family -- the other two being Prithviraj Kapoor and Raj Kapoor. I wish him a long and healthy life," he said.

Dressed in a floor sweeping gown, Kangana Ranaut received the Best Actress honour from the president. The Best Actor award was picked up by Vijay for his "subtle and non-stereotypical playing of a woman trapped in a man's body", in Kannada film "Nanu Avanalla Avalu".

The team of "Haider" - a modern-day adaptation of William Shakespeare's classic tragedy "Hamlet" - set in the backdrop of Kashmir, was also present at the ceremony where the film too won Best Dialogues and Music Direction for the film's director Vishal Bhardwaj; Best Choreography for Norway-based Sudesh Adhana; and Best Costume Designer for Dolly Ahluwalia.

Vikramaditya Motwane and Vikas Bahl also received the honour for "Queen" for Best Hindi film.

Other films to get awards in Best Film category are "Othello" (Assamese), "Nirbashito" (Bengali), "Harivu" (Kannada), "Nachom - IA Kumpasar" (Konkani), "Ain" (Malayalam), "Killa" (Marathi), "Aadim Vichar" (Odiya), "Punjab 1984" (Punjabi), "Kuttram Kadithal" (Tamil) and "Chandamama Kathalu" (Telugu).

Omung Kumar, whose "Mary Kom" won the Best Popular Film Providing Wholesome Entertainment, turned up in black ensemble with stripes.

In the Best Children's Film, there was a tie between Marathi entertainer "Elizabeth Ekadashi" and Tamil movie "Kaakkaa Muttai", for which actor Dhanush accepted the award.

"The National Film awards stands for the immense honour befitting the highest governmental recognition in the field of cinema. I welcome and congratulate all the recipients for this year. You have done India proud," said the president.

He also shared that the Indian film industry is "today the largest film industry in the world in terms of number of movies being produced with about 1600 films made every year on an average. The film industry today is a full-fledged economy having a turnover of a magnitude of Rs.1,02,600 crore".

"By now mainstream Hindi cinema is internationally recognised. We must also make focus on representing our regional films, which are equally impressive and deserve a global attention".

Finance Minister Arun Jaitley and Minister of State for Information and Broadcasting Rajyavardhan Rathore also attended the award ceremony.