On Saturday, the 56th National Film Awards in New Delhi threw up a few surprises and some expected results. The Best Film award went to Bengali film, Antaheen (2009), directed by Aniruddha Roy Chowdhury, starring Sharmila Tagore, Rahul Bose, Aparna Sen and Radhika Apte.
The Best Director award went to Tamil filmmaker Bala, for his film Naan Kadavul (2009). Upendra Limaye, star of the Marathi film, Jogwa (2009), won the Best Actor award.
The Hindi film industry has quite a bit to cheer about, too. Priyanka Chopra, who floored the audience with her performance as a model gone astray in Madhur Bhandarkar’s Fashion (2008) and bagged popular awards, added another one to her kitty. This one, evidently, is the highest honour for the actress, and also her first National award.
Speaking to DNA from New York, where she is shooting for her forthcoming film, Anjaana Anjaani, Priyanka said, “I’m elated. During the making of Fashion, we were worried because it was a female-oriented film.”
“But it saw commercial success and helped me win a host of other awards. The National award, of course, is the cherry on the cake,” Priyanka added. Her co-star in Fashion, Kangana Ranaut, won the Best Supporting Actress for the same film.
One of the surprises thrown up was Arjun Rampal winning the Best Supporting Actor award for Rock On (2008). The film also won the award for the Best Hindi Film, while the Best Popular Film award went to the Dibakar Banerjee-directed Oye Lucky! Lucky Oye (2008).
“The film had released on 26/11 and no one was obviously in the mood for entertainment then. But this award more than makes up for it,” says Banerjee.
Kannada film Gubbachigalu (2008) was adjudged the Best Children’s Film, and Shams Patel was given the Best Child Actor award for the Hindi film, Thanks Maa (2009). The Malayalam film, Bioscope, won a Special Jury award.
Other awards:
Best Debut Film: A Wednesday (2008)
Best Film on family values: Little Zizou (2009)
Best Special Effects: Mumbai Meri Jaan (2008)
Best Animation Film: Roadside Romeo (2008)
Best Editing: Firaaq (2009)
Best Costume Designer: Neeta Lulla for Jodhaa Akbar (2008)
Best Choreography Award: Chinni Prakash for Jodhaa Akbar (2008)
Best Music: Ajay and Atul for Jogwa
Best Male Singer: Hariharan for Jogwa
Best Female Singer: Shreya Ghoshal for Jogwa and Antaheen
g_aniruddha@dnaindia.net
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