New Delhi: Actress Vidya Balan won her first National Award for her stellar performance in the biopic of southern sex symbol Silk Smitha in ‘The Dirty Picture’ and director Onir anthology film ‘I AM’ compiling four stories on identity picked up two awards as the country’s most prestigious film jury kept the focus on regional films at the 59th National Film Awards announced on Wednesday.
Byari, the first film in the Beary language spoken in coastal Kannada, and Marathi film Deool shared the award for Best Feature Film. Byari is about how girls in the small Muslim Beary community are mistreated in the name of marriage and divorce. Through its female protagonist director Suveeran conveys the trauma of a woman who has to deal with unjust religious strictures.
Acclaimed actor Girish Kulkarni also won the Best Actor award for political drama Deool, which has featured in the major film festivals around the world. Deool is a satirical and penetrative account of the politics involved in the commercialization of religion in India. Kulkarni’s portrayal as a good-hearted simpleton who sets tumultuous events in motion won over the jury who described his performance as ingenious.
Directed by Umesh Kulkarni, ‘Deool’ is a wonderfully authentic depiction of village life and a penetrating account of commercialisation of religion. “It is a great moment for us as we worked hard on the film for two years. It was a closely knit team. It is very encouraging for us who want to make movies without
compromising on content. I am really happy for Girish. He is a very versatile and genuine actor,” Umesh told PTI.
The winners were announced by chairpersons of the jury. The awards will be given to the winners in a ceremony on May 3. For feature films the names of the award winners were declared by actress Rohini Hattangady, who was the chairperson of the Feature Films Jury (Central Panel). Ramesh Sharma, the chairperson of the Non-Feature films jury and Vijaya Mulay, who chaired the jury on the Best Writing on Cinema announced the names of other award winners.
Traditionally, the National Awards keep the focus on regional films and the presence of Bollywood is limited to only a few select categories. This year ‘I Am’ won in the Best Hindi Film and Best Lyrics (Amitabh Bhattacharya) category. Director Anubhav Sinha’s RA.One won the award for Best Special Effects. Gurvinder Singh won Best Director for ‘Anhe Ghorey Da Daan’ (Alms of the blind horse), a low-budget Punjabi film that has won international laurels.
Appu Kutty won the Best Supporting Actor for the Tamil film ‘Azhagar Samiyin Kuthirai while Leishangthem Tonthoingambi Devi won the Best Supporting Actress award for Manipuri film Phijigee Mani. The Special Jury Award went to singer/director Anjan Dutta whose film Ranjana Ami Ar Ashbona won the Best Bengali film.
‘Ranjana Ami Ar Ashbona’ that stars Dutta, Amyt Datta, Lew Hilt and Nondon Bagchi, is the story of a Bangla-band and the making of a rockstar.
Stanley ka Dabba’s Partho Gupte, the son of director Amol Gupte, and the cast of the film Chillar Party won the Best Child Artist award while the Best Children’s Film went to Chillar Party. Another Bollywood win was the Best costume award for Neeta Lulla for the film ‘Bal Gandharva’ (Marathi) and Niharika Khan for ‘The Dirty Picture’ (Hindi). The Best Female Playback Singer went to Roopa Ganguly for Bengali film Abosheshey and the Best Male Playback Singer to Anand Bhate for Marathi film Bal Gandharva.
The Award for Best Popular Film Providing Wholesome Entertainment went to Tamil film Azhagarsamiyin Kuthirai. Last year Salman Khan’s cop romp Dabangg had won in this category. Director Zoya Akhtar’s ‘Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara’ won the Best Audiography and Best Choreography awards. Neel Dutt won the Best Music Direction award for Ranjana Ami Ar Ashbona while Mayookh Bhaumik won Best Background Score for Bengali film Laptop.
The National Film Awards, which were started as an annual incentive by the Government of India , for the making of artistic, competent and meaningful films have come a long way, to cover the entire national spectrum of Indian Cinema, to judge merit by the highest possible yardstick and to become the most coveted and prestigious award in the country.
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