Legendary actor Rajnikanth conferred upon prestigious Dadasaheb Phalke Award; Manoj Bajpayee, Kangana Ranaut best actors at 67th National Film Awards ceremony
Superstar Rajinikanth received a standing ovation by the audience while he was conferred with Dadasaheb Phalke Award, India's highest film honour, by Vice President Venkaiah Naidu in the capital today.
The veteran star was felicitated with a Swarna Kamal (Golden Lotus) medallion, a shawl, and a cash prize.
Born as Shivaji Rao Gaekwad on December 12, 1950, to Ramoji Rao and Jijabai, Rajinikanth worked as a bus conductor before embarking on his film journey about 45 years ago.
While accepting the award, Rajinikanth took a stroll down memory lane to thank one of his old friends, who saw acting talent in him and encouraged him to try his luck in films.
"I am extremely happy to receive this prestigious award. My heartfelt thanks to the central government for honouring me with the Dadasaheb Phalke award. I would like to dedicate this award to my guru K Balachander. Today, I remember him with great gratitude. I also want to thank my friend who saw this talent in me and suggested me to do acting while I was working as a bus conductor," he recalled.
Rajinikanth also dedicated his win to all the producers, directors, members of the film industry and fans.
"Thanks to everyone for their support… press, media, directors, distributors, producers and fans… my heartfelt thanks to everyone. Also, a special thanks to Tamil people… without them I am nobody," he expressed his gratitude.
Rajinikanth attended the presentation ceremony along with his wife Latha, daughter Aishwarya, and son-in-law Dhanush.
Manoj Bajpayee, Kangana Ranaut best actors at National Film Awards ceremony
Actor Manoj Bajpayee was awarded best Actor award for Hindi movie 'Bhonsle' and Dhanush got the award for Tamil Movie 'Asuran'. Kangana Ranaut received Best Actress award for her movies 'Manikarnika -The Queen of Jhansi' and 'Panga'. Vijaya Sethupati was awarded the best supporting actor award for Tamil film 'Super Deluxe' and Pallavi Joshi got best supporting actress award for Hindi film' The Tashkent Files'.
Praak got the Best Male playback Singer award for song "Teri Mitti" in Hindi Film 'Kesari'. Savani Ravindra was awarded Best Female playback Singer award for song "Rann Petala" in Marathi Movie 'Bardo'. D. Imman received best Music Direction Award for his songs in Tamil Fim 'Vishwasam'. Prabuddha Banerjee got the award for background music in Bengali movie 'Jeyesthaputro'.
Prabha Varma got the Best Lyrics award for Malayalam movie 'Kolaambi'. Raju Sundaram received the Best Choreography award for Telugu Movie 'Maharshi'. Sikkim got the award for the most film friendly state. Best Non Feature Film award was given to Hemant Gaba's 'An Engineered Dream'.
The award for the best film critic was given to Sohini Chattopadhyay.
In Non-Feature Film category, Best Animation Film was awarded to 'Radha'. Best Art and Culture film award was given to Odia non-feature film 'Shrikhetra ru Sahijata'. The Award for the best Narration for Non-Feature Films was given to 'Wild Karnataka' (English) by Sir David Attenborough.
The award for the Best Music Direction in Non-Feature Films was given to 'Kranti Darshi Guruji- Ahead Of Times' (Hindi) by Bishakhjyoti. The award for best book on cinema was given to 'A Gandhian Affair: India's Curious Portrayal of Love in Cinema' written by Sanjay Suri.
Speaking on the occasion, Vice President Naidu said he is happy to see films from different regions winning the awards. He said the films deal with pertinent issues of our times, including climate change. He said, cinema serves as a powerful medium for promotion of sports and this medium should be used for betterment of society. (With inputs from AIR & ANI)
