It was a southern sweep at the 2007 National Film Awards announced, a year late, on Monday.
But Bollywood, represented by the Khans, got a fair share of the limelight.
Adoor Gopalakrishnan’s Malayalam film Naalu Pennungal got him his fifth National Award for best director while Priyadarshan’s Tamil film Kanchivaram — the touching tale of a silk weaver from Kanchi — won the award for best film.
Tamil actor Prakash Raj beat Shah Rukh Khan and Aamir Khan to bag the Best Actor award for Kanchivar-am. Kannada actress Uma-shree won the Best Actress award for Gulabi Talkies.
Prasoon Joshi and Shankar Mahadevan won the awards for best lyricist and best playback singer respectively for Taare Zameen Par. Aamir Khan, as producer-director, won the award for best film (Taare…) on family welfare.
Shah Rukh Khan-starrer Chak De India won the award for best picture under wholesome entertainment.
The 2007 awards were delayed as documentary filmmaker Anand Patwardhan had challenged the 2005 awards, resulting in a stay for over a year.