ThE buzz

national Film Awards

Talent from the Indian film industry received awards from President Pranab Mukherjee at the 60th National Film Awards on the same day as the industry’s 100th birthday.

The ceremony, hosted by actors R. Madhavan and Huma Qureshi, witnessed performances by Shankar Mahadevan, who got the best male playback singer award for the song Bolo na from Chittagong, for which Prasoon Joshi received the best lyricist award.

Veteran actor Pran was honoured with the Dadasaheb Phalke award, but the 93-year-old couldn’t make it to the event.

A healthy mix of Bollywood, southern, Marathi and Bengali cinema talent won awards and some of them, notably John Abraham and Nawazuddin Siddiqui, looked great in national attire.

Tigmanshu Dhulia’s Paan Singh Tomar, about an athlete-turned-dacoit, won the best film award. Versatile Irrfan, who played the title role in the biopic, was named the best actor for the same film, and he shared the title with Vikram Gokhale for his performance in Marathi film Anumati

Actress Usha Jadhav won the best actress title for playing a rustic housewife in Marathi film Dhag, which won the best director’s gong for Shivaji Lotan Patil.

In the feature film category, a total of 38 films from 14 languages were selected for the awards.

From Bollywood, Kahaani, Vicky Donor, Paan Singh Tomar, OMG: Oh My God! and Dekh Indian Circus won multiple awards.