President gives away 60th National Film Awards

Talent from the Indian movie industry received awards from President Pranab Mukherjee at the 60th National Film Awards across various categories here Friday. Veteran actor Pran was honoured with the Dadasaheb Phalke award, but the 93-year-old couldn't make it to the event.

The ceremony, hosted by actors R. Madhavan and Huma Qureshi, witnessed performances by Shankar Mahadevan, who got the best male playback singer award for the song "Bolo na" from "Chittagong", for which Prasoon Joshi received the best lyricist award.

A healthy mix of Bollywood, southern, Marathi and Bengali cinema talent won awards and some of them were looking great in their Indian attire. John Abraham opted for bandgala suit while Nawazuddin Siddiqui opted for black suit.

Tigmanshu Dhulia's "Paan Singh Tomar", about an athlete-turned-dacoit, won the best film award. Versatile Irrfan, who played the title role in the biopic, was named the best actor for the same film, and he shared the title with Vikram Gokhale for his performance in Marathi film "Anumati".

Actress Usha Jadhav won the best actress title for playing a rustic housewife in Marathi film "Dhag", which won the best director's gong for Shivaji Lotan Patil.

The award for the best female playback singer was given to Samhita for the song "Palakein naa moon don" from Marathi film "Aarti Anklekartikekar".

In the feature film category, a total of 38 films from 14 languages have been selected for the awards.

From Bollywood, "Kahaani", "Vicky Donor", "Paan Singh Tomar", "OMG: Oh My God!" and "Dekh Indian Circus" won multiple awards.

Sujoy Ghosh won the best screenplay writer (original) for "Kahaani", which also won Namrata Rao best editor National Award and Nawazuddin Siddiqui got a special mention for the same film.

"Vicky Donor", a film on a youngster who plays a sperm donor, won three gongs - best film providing wholesome entertainment, best supporting actor for Annu Kapoor and best supporting actress for Dolly Ahluwalia who shared it with Kalpana, who won it for Malayalam movie "Thanichalla Njan".

Actress Parineeti Chopra, looking pretty in a salwar-kameez, came to take the award for a special mention for "Ishaqzaade".

The best adapted screenplay went to Bhavesh Mandalia and Shri Umesh Shukla for "OMG: Oh My God!", an adaptation of a Gujarati play.

The best debut film of a director was jointly picked by "101 Chodiyangal" with Hindi film "Chittagong".

The best child artist award too has been shared by Minon for "101 Chodiyangal" and Virendra Pratap for "Dekh Indian Circus".

Anjali Menon won the best dialogue award for Malayalam film "Ustad Hotel", which also won a posthumous special mention for ace actor Thilakan, who passed away in September last year.

A special jury award has been conferred on Rituparno Ghosh for Bengali film "Chitrangadha". Birju Maharaj won the award for the best choreography for Tamil film "Vishwaroopam", while Tamil blockbuster "Eega" won the award for its awe-inspiring visual effects.

Communication and IT Minister Kapil Sibal too was present at the occasion along with Information and Broadcasting Minister Manish Tewari, which saw key members of the country's film fraternity.