Manoj Kumar honoured with Dadasaheb Phalke
Our Correspondent
President Pranab Mukherjee today conferred National film awards for the year 2015 at a glittering ceremony in New Delhi’s Vigyan Bhavan.
Legendry Actor Manoj Kumar was presented with prestigious Dadasaheb Phalke Award.
21 Awards were given by the President in the Non-Feature film category while 51 awards in the Feature Film category. Three awards were given to Best Writing on Cinema.
In the Feature Film category, the Award for the Best Feature Film was given to Baahubali. The Award for the Best Popular Film providing Wholesome Entertainment was given to Hindi film Bajrangi Bhaijaan. The Award for the Best Film on Social Issues has been given to Nirnayakam.
Best Director Award was conferred on Sanjay Leela Bansali for his Hindi Film Baajirao Mastani. Best Actor Award was given to Amitabh Bachchan for his film Piku and the Award for the Best Actress was conferred on Kangana Ranaut for the film, Tanu weds Manu Returns. The award for the Best Children’s Film was given to Hindi Film Duronto. Master Gaurav Menon was conferred Award for Best Child Artist for Malayalam movie Ben.
The Award for the Best Music direction has been conferred on M Jayachandran for Malayalam movie Ennu Ninte Moideen. Amdavad Ma Famous film got the award for best non feature film. This year National Film Awards included a special award given to the state of Gujarat for being the most film friendly state in the Country.
Speaking on the occasion the President Pranab Mukherjee said that the Indian Films truly reflected the Indian character of Unity and Diversity. He complimented the composition of Award winners in the National Film Awards which included new comers as well as legends of Indian cinema. He said that the National Film Awards this year reflected all aspects of cinema including digitization and technology.
He further added that with a growing world audience who were attracted towards Indian films and an increasing presence of Indian films at different parts of the world, the overseas market possesses a great potential for the Indian film industry. He said, the revenue from overseas theatricals witnessed an increase of 11.5 percent from 8.6 billion rupees in 2014 to 9.6 billion rupees in 2015.
Information and Broadcasting Minister Arun Jaitley, said that National Film Awards are truly national as they were selected by the most distinguished jury which objectively and dispassionately selected the very best from hundreds of entries in different categories. He said that golden era of Indian Cinema is yet to come.