Kangana best actress, "Haider" shines at National Film Awards

Kangana Ranaut won the best actress award for her endearing performance in "Queen" while Vishal Bhardwaj's "Haider" walked away with five honours at the 62nd National Film Awards, announced today.

The top prize went to Chaitanya Tamhane's multilingual independent drama "Court" which was declared the best feature film while best director and actor honours went to Bengali and Kannada films, respectively.

"Court", which focuses on the flaws in the Indian judicial system, has been winning critical acclaim nationally and internationally. The award is expected to give a major boost to the movie ahead of its theatrical release on April 17.

"This award is a sign of encouragement and assurance that you can follow your heart and not necessarily compromise on your vision," Tamhane told PTI.

Ranaut, 28, who celebrated her birthday yesterday, won her career's second National award in the movie about a girl, who goes on a foreign honeymoon alone after being dumped by her fiance. Her earlier win as best supporting actress was for "Fashion" in 2010.

The Vikas Bahl-directed coming-of-age film was also named the best Hindi feature film.

Shahid Kapoor-starrer "Haider", a Kashmir-set modern adaptation of Shakespeare's Hamlet, won five awards. Its helmer Vishal Bhardwaj was named the best music director but lost out the best director award to Bengali filmmaker Srijit Mukherji ('Chotushkone').

Bhardwaj was also named for best dialogues in the movie while Sukhwinder Singh clinched the best male playback singer gong for the song "Bismil". Its other two wins were in the categories of choreography and costume design.

The director said Haider's win at National awards reinstated his faith in making brave choices.

"The National award win makes you feel more fearless. And it again reiterates the fact that I should just follow my heart and not look for other people's approval for my work," Bhardwaj told PTI.