The prestigious National Film Awards were announced on Friday with Aattam: The Play, a Malayalam film bagging the prestigious award for Best Feature Film. Acclaimed director Sooraj R. Barjatya won the Best Director accolade for his work in Hindi film Uunchai.
Acting Honors: Nithya Menon, Manasi Parekh and Rishabh Shetty
Best Actress prize had been shared this year between Nithya Menon who acted in Thiruchitrambalam, a Tamil movie and Manasi Parekh from Kutch Express, a Gujarati movie. In the category of Best Actor, the recognition went to Rishabh Shetty whose performance in Kannada blockbuster Kantara stood out.
Supporting Roles and Special Mentions
Neena Gupta won the Best Supporting Actress Award for her role in Uunchai while Pawan Malhotra earned himself an accolade for being named best supporting actor in Fouja a Haryanvi movie. Another Hindi film Gulmohar featuring Sharmila Tagore as well as Manoj Bajpayee also received some praise with Bajpayee getting special mention for his performance.
Music Awards: A.R. Rahman and Pritam
Music maestro A.R. Rahman scooped up the award for Best Music Director (Background Score) at National Film Awards named after him by virtue of his work in Ponniyin Selvan Part I directed by Mani Ratnam which was also celebrated as the Best Tamil Film. On another note Pritam was awarded as he was outstandingly recognized as having composed songs for Brahmastra part 1.
The jury was headed by Rahul Rawail, chairman of feature film jury celebrating excellence across a wide spectrum of Indian cinema.
