68th National Film Awards Winners : Ajay Devgn & Suriya bagged the Best Actor Award
On Friday, The winners of the 68th National Film Awards were announced in New Delhi. The Best Actor award for the year 2020 is to be shared by Suriya and Ajay Devgn for their work in Soorarai Pottru and Tanhaji: The Unsung Warrior respectively.
The National Film Awards, established in 1954, are administered by the Directorate of Film Festivals, Government of India.
This year’s ceremony honoured films from 2020, across several categories, because of the delays related to Covid-19.
Speaking about the awards to ANI, Sh. Anurag Thakur, Information & Broadcasting Minister said, “I want to congratulate all the jury members and all those people whose work was reviewed and would like to congratulate those recipients who will be awarded the National Film Awards. A word of appreciation for everyone who has done an outstanding job.”
He further added, “I am glad that this year we will be holding the 68th National Film Awards since we could not hold the awards for two years because of Covid.”
The Jury Members of the 68th National Film Awards were: Film Maker Vipul Shah (Chair Person), Cinematographer Dharam Gulati, National Award-winning Bengali Actor Sreelekha Mukherjee, Cinematographer GS Bhaskar, A Karthikraaja, VN Aditya, Viji Thampi, Sanjeev Rattan, S Thangadurai and Nishigandha.
This is Suriya’s first National Award and Ajay Devgan’s third – he won Best Actor for his film Zakhm (1998), and The Legend Of Bhagat Singh (2002).
Moreover, some of the winners are as follows:
Feature Films:
Best Feature Film: Soorarai Pottru (based on events in the life of Simplifly Deccan founder G Gopinath)
Best Director: Sachy for Ayyappanum Koshiyum
Best Popular Film Providing Wholesome Entertainment: Tanhaji
Best Actor: Suriya for Soorarai Pottru and Ajay Devgn for Tanhaji
Best Actress: Aparna Balamurali for Soorarai Pottru
Best Supporting Actor: Biju Menon for Ayyappanum Koshiyam
Best Supporting Actress: Lakshmi Priya Chandramouli for Sivaranjaniyum Innam Sila Pengallum
Best Screenplay: Soorarai Pottru
Best Music Direction (Songs): Ala Vaikunthapurramuloo, Thaman S
Best Male Playback Singer: Rahul Deshpande for Mi Vasantrao, and Anish Mangesh Gosavi for Taktak
Best Female Playback Singer: Nanchamma for Ayyappanum Koshiyam
Best Lyrics: Manoj Muntashir for Saina
Best Choreography: Sandhya Raju, Natyam
Best Cinematography: Avijatrik, Supratim Bhol
Best Costume Design: Nachiket Barve and Mahesh Sherla for Tanhaji
Best Hindi Film: Toolsidas Junior
Best Kannada Film: Dollu
Best Malayalam Film: Thinkalazhcha Nishchayam
Best Tamil Film: Sivaranjiniyum Innum Sila Pengalum
Best Telugu Film: Colour Photo
Best Haryanvi Film: Dada Lakhmi
Best Dimasa Film: Samkhor
Best Tulu Film: Jeetige
Best Marathi Film: Goshta Eka Paithanichi
Best Bengali Film: Avijatrik
Best Assamese Film: The Bridge
Best Child Artist: Anish Mangesh Gosavi for Tak-Tak, and Akanksha Pingle and Divyesh Indulkar for Sumi
Best Children’s Film: Sumi
Indira Gandhi Award for Best Debut Film of a Director: Mandela
Best Film Friendly State: Madhya Pradesh