Cine industry to attend National Film Awards ceremony today

The 66th National Film Awards ceremony will be held in Delhi today at Vigyan Bhavan, where the awards will be presented by Vice President Venkaiah Naidu. Most winners plan to attend the ceremony in Delhi today. A host of them have already arrived in the city, to attend the event’s rehearsal.

This year, the announcement of the awards was made after much delay. While the announcement is usually made in April, in 2019, it was made in August, due to the General Elections. The list of winners was released on August 9 by the chief of the 11-member jury, filmmaker Rahul Rawail.

While filmmakers from across the country will be present at the ceremony, Bollywood, too, is expected to shine with a number of winners. To begin with, 'Badhaai Ho' (produced by Junglee Pictures and Chrome Pictures) has won awards for Best Actress in a Supporting Role (Surekha Sikri) and Best Popular Film Providing Wholesome Entertainment. Director Amit Ravindernath Sharma, who helmed 'Badhaai Ho' (as a director and co-producer) will be attending the function with his father. Talking about it, the filmmaker said, “It feels like a dream, it’s overwhelming. Awards are very important. I didn’t craft 'Badhaai Ho' thinking that we will win the National Award for it. It reiterates the fact that when you do something with utmost honesty, without succumbing to pressures, it will work. While every award is important for me, winning the National Award feels special. While it often doesn’t change much in the winner, it does change the people around them in terms of their attitude and approach. I feel that change, too.” Speaking to us in August when the awards had been announced, Amit had told us, “ Five years ago, people would have called it an offbeat film but this award proves that films are films. The distinction between offbeat and commercial does not exist anymore.”

Surekha Sikri was adjudged the Best Actress in a Supporting Role for her act as the grandmother in the film. “It was a well-written film with characters that every family in India can relate to. Mujhe bahut maza aaya iss film mein kaam karke and the best part is that the audience appreciated the way it was written,” she had said in August.

Among the major winners was 'AndhaDhun', which was adjudged the Best Hindi Film. It also bagged awards for Best Adapted Screenplay (Sriram Raghavan, Arijit Biswas, Yogesh Chandekar, Hemanth Rao, and Pooja Ladha Surti) and Best Actor (Ayushmann Khurrana). Sanjay Leela Bhansali’s 'Padmaavat' won the award for Best Music Direction, Best Choreography (Jyoti D Tommar and Kruti Mahesh Midya) and Best Male Playback Singer (Arijit Singh).

Director-Producer R Balki and author-producer Twinkle Khanna’s 'Padman' was declared the Best Film on Social Issues, while filmmaker Mahaveer Jain’s 'Chalo Jeete Hain' won in the category of Best Film on Family Values. Debutant Aditya Dhar won the Best Director award for 'Uri: The Surgical Strike'. It also won Vicky Kaushal his first National Award for Best Actor. The film has won two more awards – Bishwadeep Chatterjee for Best Sound Design and Shashwat Sachdev for Background Score.

Sanjay Routray, who produced 'AndhaDhun', said, “It’s the ultimate recognition and it doesn’t get bigger than this award in our country. All the time that we spent getting this far now feels worth it. India is a diverse country and entertainment as an industry is something that people look up to. Working in the cinema industry is a job for so many of us and this ceremony is an acknowledgement of all the hard work thousands of us have put in. Nothing more and nothing less.”

Bengali filmmaker Srijit Mukherji’s 'Ek Je Chhilo Raja' was adjudged the Best Feature Film in Bengali. He told us, “This is going to be the eighth National Award for my films, and personally, my third. It’s very important to be acknowledged for the work you do. The Bengali film industry faces perennial resource constraint and one has to work with extremely tight budgets and resources. This feels like a pat on the back and a nod of approval and recognition for the entire team.”