New Delhi: The National Film Awards ceremony finally took place, here Monday. However, the main attraction of the programme, megastar Amitabh Bachchan was absent and it took the sheen off the show to a great extent. Bachchan who was scheduled to receive the Dadasaheb Phalke Award for his contribution to cinema had tweeted Sunday that he would give the programme a miss due to fever.
Vice-President Venkaiah Naidu who gave away the awards however, paid rich tributes to ‘Big B’ calling him ‘an institution by himself’ a statement not many would disagree with.
Prakash Javadekar, Minister for Information and Broadcasting, noted the popularity of Indian films abroad, particularly China. He also made special mentions of some of the awardees, including Best Actors Ayushmann Khurrana and Vicky Kaushal, Best Actress Keerthy Suresh, and Akshay Kumar, whose movie PadMan won the award for Best Film on Social Issues.
Several awardees received rousing cheers from the gathering – Best Supporting Actress Surekha Sikri, who received her prize in a wheelchair, got a standing ovation. Sikri was awarded for her performance in Badhaai Ho. The winners of Best Music Direction prizes – Sanjay Leela Bhansali for Padmaavat and Shashwat Sachdev for Uri: The Surgical Strike – also received huge applause.
PNN & Agencies
