NEW DELHI: On the precise day that Indian cinema completed a glorious 100 years, the National Film Awards ceremony was held in the Capital city, where President Pranab Mukherjee gave out the highest honour for excellence in cinema.
Bollywood’s very own powerhouse performers Nawazuddin Siddiqui, Parineeti Chopra, Irrfan Khan and recently turned producer John Abraham mingled with cinematic legends from Southern, Marathi and Bengali film industries.
Nawazuddin Siddiqui was presented the Rajat Kamal award, while Parineeti snapped up a Special Mention award. John Abraham was honoured with the Best Popular Film award for his 2012 sleeper hit ‘Vicky Donor’, while Irrfan was presented with the Best Actor award.
Shankar Mahadevan too was honoured, with the best playback singer award.
Veteran actor Pran was to be felicitated with the Dadasaheb Phalke award, but unfortunately the 93 year-old actor was not able to make it to the event.
Other major awardees included Tigmanshu Dhulia’s ‘Paan Singh Tomar’, about an athlete-turned-dacoit, which won the best film award. Sujoy Ghosh won the best screenplay writer (original) for ‘Kahaani’, while Namrata Rao won best editor National Award for the same film.
‘Vicky Donor’ cast member Annu Kapoor also won a nod for Best Supporting Actor and Dolly Ahluwalia won the same for Best Supporting Actress.
