Posthumous honour for Vinod Khanna, Sridevi

Posthumous honour for Vinod Khanna, Sridevi

Pune/New Delhi: Veteran actor Vinod Khanna, who passed away in April last year, was conferred with the Dadasaheb Phalke Award -- the highest cinema honour in India while Sridevi, whose sudden death in February this year left the nation in a state of shock, was awarded the Best Actress Award for her Hindi film ‘Mom’ at the 65th National Film Awards on Friday. 

The list of winners was announced by filmmaker Shekhar Kapur, who was heading the jury. The jury members also included screenwriter Imtiaz Hussain, lyricist Mehboob, actress Gautami Tadimalla, Kannada director P Sheshadri, Aniruddha Roy Chowdhury, Ranjit Das, Rajesh Mapuskar, Tripurari Sharma and Rumi Jaffrey.

The Best Actor award was won by Riddhi Sen for ‘Nagarkirtan’. 
The Bengali film also got the Best Costume Designer, Best Make-Up Artist and Special Jury awards. Malayalam director Jayaraj won the Best Director Award for ‘Bhayanakam’, which also won the awards for Best Screenplay (Adapted) and Best Cinematography.

Amit Masurkar’s political film ‘Newton’ won the Best Hindi Film and Special Mention Award for talented actor Pankaj Tripathi. 
SS Rajamouli’s ‘Baahubali 2: The Conclusion’ won the Best Popular Film Providing Wholesome Entertainment along with bagging the Best Special Effects Award. Rima Das’ Assamese film ‘Village Rockstars’, about the spirit of poor but fun-loving children won several awards including Best Feature Film, Best Editing, Best Child Artist for Bhanita Das and Best Location Sound Recordist Award for Mallika Das.

Divya Dutta bagged the Best Supporting Actress for ‘Irada’ (directed by Aparnaa Singh and Nishant Tripathi) and the film also won the Best Film on Environment Conservation/Preservation. In the music category, veteran composer KJ Yesudas and Shashaa Tirupati won the best playback singers, while JM Prahalad won in the best lyrics category for the song ‘Muthuratna’. The Indira Gandhi Award for Best Debut Film of a Director went to ‘Sinjar’, a movie from Lakshwadweep, which was also named the Best Jasari Film.

Marathi movie ‘Dhappa’ won the Nargis Dutt Award For Best Feature Film on National Integration, while Malayalam movie ‘Aaalorukkam’, directed by VC Abhilash, was awarded the Best Film on Social Issues.

Regional films, as every year, stood out at the 65th National Awards. 

Kapur said, “It shows how far the regional cinema has come. The best films in regional category included, Prasad Oak’s ‘Kachcha Limboo’ (Marathi), Dileesh Pothan’s ‘Thondimuthalum Driksakshiyum’ (Malayalam), NR Nanjunde Gowda’s ‘Hebbettu Ramakka’ (Kannada), Sambit Mohanty’s ‘Hello Arsi’ (Oriya), Chezhiyan’s ‘To Let’ (Tamil), Sankalp Reddy’s ‘Ghazi’ (Telugu), Atanu Ghosh’s ‘Mayurakshi’ (Bengali) and Manish Saini’s ‘Dhh’ (Gujarati). Award for the Best Children’s Film went to Marathi movie ‘Mhorkya’. 

“I am absolutely delighted. I had no idea I was even in the running. It feels amazing to know that the whole country thought my role in ‘Newton’ was one of my best and to win the Special Mention Award at the highest film award in India is just exhilarating. My director and co-actors made it so easy for me to act in this film.” 
—Pankaj Tripathi, 
Special Mention Award (Newton)

“We are overjoyed to know that the jury has conferred the Best Actor Award to Sridevi for her performance in ‘Mom’. It is a very special moment for all of us. She was always a perfectionist and it showed in all the 300-plus films she did. She was not just a super actor but a super wife and mom. It is time to celebrate her life and her achievements. She is not with us today but her legacy will always live on.”
—Janhvi, Khushi and Boney Kapoor 
on Sridevi winning the Best Actress Award for ‘Mom’

“We are, of course, very happy because it was not only my first film but the first for many others, who were associated with ‘Dhappa’. It’s a small children’s film, which we had made before ‘Baap Janma’. We are looking to release the film later this year and this award will help us get a release. I hope it will make people aware of our film.”  
—Nipin Dharamadhikari,
 Director, ‘Dhappa’ 

“I am feeling a steady happiness. The film deserved every bit of appreciation it has got. It is a special film for special people (differently abled). We have tried to recognise the families of these special children, who also go through hardships. The film is even more special for me because we have shown the mother’s character in a different manner. She is fearless and we do not see many such female characters on screen. Usually, women are sacrificing and helpless on screen. She is not happy about the situation and she wants to change it.” 
—Sonali Kulkarni, 
actress, ‘Kachcha Limboo’ 

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