68th National Film Awards: "Soorarai Pottru" wins big; Malayalam too

New Delhi: The 68th National Awards were announced here, and Sudha Kongara's Tamil flick "Soorarai Pottru" won big with Best Feature Film, Actor, Actress, Music Direction and Screenplay. Malayalam also shined with multiple awards.

The jury selected actor Surya (Soorarai Pottru), along with Ajay Devgn (Tanhaji: The Unsung Hero), for the Best Actor award, while Kerala-based Aparna Balamurali was awarded Best Actress. When late director Sachi became Best Director for the film "Ayyappanum Koshiyum", Kerala-based Biju Menon became Best Supporting Actor. Lakshmi Priya Chandramouli was awarded Best Supporting Actress for her performance in the Tamil film "Sivaranjaniyum Innam Sila Pengallum". "Tanhaji" won Best Popular Feature Film too.

Kerala-based Nanchamma became Best Female Playback Singer for her "Kalakkatha Sandanamera" song in "Ayyappanum Koshiyum". Moviegoers had taken the song to their hearts after its release. Rahul Deshpande became Best Male Playback Singer in the Marathi movie "Mi Vasantrao".

Marathi film Sumi became the Best Children's film, while Anish Mangesh Gosavi, Akanksha Pingle and Divyesh Indulkar became the Best Child Artists. Gosavi won the award for the Marathi film "Tak Tak" and the latter two for "Sumi".

Madonne Ashwin became the Best Debutant Director for the film "Mandela".

"Soorarai Pottru" and another Tamil film "Mandela", won Best Screenplay, while Sreekar Prasad won Best Editor for "Sivaranjaniyum Innum Sila Pengallum". "Soorarai Pottru" and Allu Arjun starrer "Ala Ala Vaikunthapurramuloo" (Telugu) won Best Music Direction. Best Make-up Artist, Costume Design and Production Design were won by "Natyam" (Telugu), "Tanhaji", and "Kappela" (Malayalam), respectively. "Ayyappanum Koshiyum" won Best Stunt Choreography, while Best Choreography and Best Lyrics went to Sandhya Raju and Manoj Muntashir for "Natyam" and "Saina", respectively.

The Best Film on Environmental Conservation and Best Film on Social Issues were "Taledanda" (Kannada) and "Funeral" (Marathi), respectively.

"Dollu" (Kannada), "Mi Vasantrao" and "Malik" (Malayalam) won Best Audiography.

Also, Best Haryanvi Film – "Dada Lakshmi", Dimasa Film – "Semkhor", Tulu – "Jeetige", Telugu – "Colour Photo", Tamil – "Sivaranjaniyum Innum Sila Pengallum", Malayalam – "Thinkalazcha Nishchayam", Marathi – "Goshta Eka Paithanichi", Kannada – "Dollu", Hindi – "Toolsidas Junior", Bengali – "Avijatrik", Assamese – "Bridge".

Films such as "Semkhor", "Vaanku" (Malayalam), "June" (Marathi), "Godakaath" (Marathi), "Avwanchhit" (Marathi) and "Toolsidas Junior" won the jury's special mention.