National Film Awards: Neerja best Hindi film, Akshay Kumar best actor

The 64th National Film Awards were announced on Friday. Sonam Kapoor’s hijack drama Neerja bagged the Best Hindi film for the year 2016. Akshay Kumar was also among the big winners grabbing the Best Actor award for Rustom.

Live: Best Hindi Feature Film is 'Neerja', directed by
Ram Madhvani : https://t.co/FGKzVlbknz
64th #NationalFilmAwards

— MIB India (@MIB_India) April 7, 2017

Marathi film, Kasav, won the award for Best Feature Film.

Filmmaker Priyadarshan was the chairperson of the jury in feature films category, while nationally acclaimed cinematographer and a writer Raju Misra was the chairperson in non-feature category. The jury considered 344 films from 26 languages for the feature films category of awards.

Directed by Ram Madhvani, Neerja is based on the life of a brave airhostess Neerja Bhanot who was killed during the hijack of Pan Am Flight 73 in Karachi, Pakistan, on 5 September 1986. The film was praised by the critics and the audience alike.

Read Neeraj movie review

Akshay Kumar’s Rustom was loosely based on a true story and he played a naval officer in the film who is accused of killing his wife’s lover.

Read Rustom movie review

Best Actor of the year conferred to Shri @akshaykumar for film #Rustom
64th #NationalFilmAwards

— MIB India (@MIB_India) April 7, 2017

Amitabh Bachchan’s Pink got the Award for Best Film on Social Issues.

Read Pink movie review

Nagesh Kukunoor’s Dhanak grabbed the Best Children Film while The Eyes Of Darkness received a Special Mention.

Read Dhanak review

Surabhi C.M. was named Best Actress for Malayalam movie Minnaminungu - The Firefly. Surabhi has been honoured for showcasing her brilliance in portraying pain and ecstasy of a mother in a deplorable social condition in the Malayalam film. The movie also won the Best Film Award in Non Feature category.

Manipuri film, Loktak Lairembee, won the Award for Best Film on Environment Conservation.

In the Best Supporting Actor category, veteran actor Manoj Joshi has won for Marathi film Dashakriya, and among the actresses, Kashmiri actor Zaira Wasim’s “portrayal of a female sportsperson’s battle with the society with utmost maturity” in Dangal has been awarded by the jury. Zaira had played young Geeta Phogat in Dangal.

Rajesh Mapuska was named the best director for his Marathi film Ventilator while the Marathi film Kaasav was named the best National Film Awards.

Read Ventilator movie review

Special Jury Award in the Feature category was given to Mohanlal for his mastery in dealing with characters of various shades with unparallel acting brilliance.

Sathamanam Bhavathi received the award for Best Popular Film providing Wholesome Entertainment.

The state of Uttar Pradesh was awarded the Most Film Friendly State award for implementing a unique film policy. The state’s film policy includes various measures to create a suitable environment, which not only invited shooting of films on a large scale in the State but also promoted other activities related to various aspects of film production including financial incentives for filmmakers. The state of Jharkhand bagged Special Mention Award for their film policy which provides growth opportunities to the local filmmaking talent from within the State.

Also read: 64th National Film Awards: Here’s the complete list of winners

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First Published: Apr 07, 2017 12:22 IST