The
59TH National Film Awards function will be held tomorrow at Vigyan Bhawan. The awards will be
given away by the Hon’ble Vice President of India.
Minister of Information & Broadcasting, Smt. Ambika
Soni will also be present on the occasion.
The
highlights of the 59th National Film Awards are as follows:
The
top honour in the Feature Film category, the Best Film is shared by
films Deool (Marathi) produced by Abhijeet
Gholap & directed by Umesh
Vinayak Kulkarni and Byari
(Byari language) produced by T.H. Althaf Hussain & directed by Suveeram. The award
carries Swarna Kamal
and cash prize of Rs. 2,50,000/-. In
Non-feature film category
the top honour , Best Film goes to And We Play On (Hindi & English)directed and produced by Pramod Purswane . The
awards carries Swarna Kamal
and Cash prize of Rs. 1,50,000/-. In Best Writing on Cinema category the Swarna Kamal goes to the book
titled R.D. Burman
– The Man, The Music written by Anirudha Bhattacharjee
& Balaji Vittal,
published by Harper Collins India.
Whereas Manoj Barpujari
from Assam
has been awarded Best Film Critic.
In Feature Film category, five films
have won three awards each. These Films are The Dirty Picture (Hindi), Balgandharva
(Marathi), Anhe Ghorey Da Daan (Punjabi), Deool (Marathi)
& Ranjana Ami Ar
Ashbo Na (Bengali). Six films have won two awards each. These are
Chillar Party (Hindi), Azhagarsamiyin
Kuthirai (Tamil), Aaranyakandam
(Tamil), Phijigee Mani (Manipuri) , Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara (Hindi) & Game (Hindi).
The Best Actor award goes to Girish Kulkarni for
film Deool (Marathi) and Best Actress to Vidya Balan for the
film The Dirty Picture (Hindi). Azhagarsamiyin
Kuthirai (Tamil) won the award for Wholesome
Entertainment, Chillar Party (Hindi)
won Best Children Film, Best Director to
Gurvinder Singh for Punjabi film Anhe Ghorey Da Daan
, Best Singer to Anand Bhate
(Male) for Marathi film Balgandharva and Roopa Ganguly (Female) for the Bengali film Abosheyshey . Kumararaja Thiagarajan
has won the Indira Gandhi Award for Best Debut film
of a Director.
In
the Non-Feature film category, three films have won two awards each. The Film Tiger Dynasty has won the
Best Environmental Film & Best Cinematography awards. Awards for Best Direction and Best Editing
have been taken away by the film There is Something in the Air. Film Panchakki
has been awarded Best Short Fiction and Best Music Direction.
The number of entries in all the three
broad sections of awards ----Feature Films, Non-Feature Films and Best writing
on Cinema have been increasing year by year.
The number of entries for 2011 stood at 186 in the feature films
category, which is the highest in the history of the National Film Awards. Last year, 161 entries were received in this
category. Entries in the non-feature films category have also steadily rising and this year
156 entries as compared to 113 last year.
More and more
authors and writers are now sending their entries for awards in Best Writing on
Cinema category.
Iconic
Bengali actor Soumitra Chatterjee
will receive the top honour in India
cinema - Dada Saheb Phalke
Award for the year 2011. The 77 year old actor made his debut in 1959 in Satyajit Ray’s APUR SANSAR and later acted in 14 of
his films. The award will be presented to the veteran actor during the Awards
function.
In the career spanning more then five decades, Shri Chatterjee
has acted in more than 400 films including the films of Tapan
Sinha, Mrinas Sen, Ajoy kar
and Tarun Majumdar. Some of
his notable films include APUR SANSAAR, DEVI, KHUDITO PASHAN, TEEN KANYA,
ABHIJAN, CHARULATA, KAPURUSH, AKASH KUSUM, ARANYER DIN RATRI , ASHANI SANKET,
SONAR KELLA, JOI BABA FELUNATH, HIRAK RAJAR DESHE, GHARE BAIRE, GANASHATRU,
SHAKHA PROSHAKHA, PADAKSHEP, BALLYNGUNGE COURT, ANGSHUMANER CHHOBI.
CP/ST