Akshay Kumar received his first National Film Award in Best Actor category for his role of a navy officer in 2016 release Rustom. He is accompanied by his wife Twinkle Khanna and son Aarav at the event being held in Vigyan Bhawan. President Pranab Mukherjee is felicitating the winners of the awards held annually to recognise contributions in the field of cinema.
Atul Kasbekar, the co-producer of Neerja receives the Best Hindi film award on behalf of the entire team. Malayalam actor Mohanlal now gets the Special Jury Award for his films Pulimurugan, Janatha Garage and Munthirivallikal Thalirkkumbol.
Actor Adil Hussain moves to stage to collect awards for his two films — Mukti Bhawan and Maj Rati Keteki. Sonam Kapoor then takes her special mention for Neerja. Seems like actor Anil Kapoor can’t gulp in the moment as he keeps clicking the pictures of his daughter.
Filmmaker Priyadarshan takes over the stage and talks about his decisions as the chairperson of the jury. He says: “Film is an entertainment of common man,” and the decisions are supposed to be subjective.
Uttar Pradesh has been announced as the most film friendly state by jury member Madhur Bhandarkar. The award ceremony kickstarts by felicitating winners in the categories of Best Writing in Cinema and Best Non-Feature film.
Sonam Kapoor, Akshay Kumar and Mukti Bhawan actor Adil Hussain are sitting together while Anil Kapoor and Twinkle Khanna can be seen seated in a few rows behind them.
Here are the live updates from the 64th National Film Awards being organised at Vigyan Bhawan in New Delhi. The awards will be conferred by President Pranab Mukherjee. Akshay Kumar, Sonam Kapoor, Zaira Wasim, Mohanlal and Malayalam actress Surbhi are among a few recipients of the coveted awards this year.
Here are the live updates from the 64th National Film Awards being organised at Vigyan Bhawan in New Delhi. The awards will be conferred by President Pranab Mukherjee. Akshay Kumar, Sonam Kapoor, Zaira Wasim, Mohanlal and Malayalam actress Surbhi are among a few recipients of the coveted awards this year.
Along with the honourable President, Information and Broadcasting Minister, Venkaiah Naidu and MOS, Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore is also present at the grand event.
WATCH NOW : HMIB @MVenkaiahNaidu addressing at the #NationalFilmAwards ceremony on @DDNational & https://t.co/5oaeHT8UJZ pic.twitter.com/vKRhSCli17
— Doordarshan National (@DDNational) May 3, 2017
It should be noted that Akshay’s National Award win triggered controversy where people objected to his performances in Rustom being honoured at the expense of probable contestants like Manoj Bajpayee, Rajkumar Rao, Irrfan Khan and others.
Akshay Kumar greets Sonam Kapoor at the 64th National Awards ceremony. (Courtesy: PTI photo)
However, Akshay took the criticism sportingly and said that he and his family are very happy with the honour. In fact, actor Suniel Shetty also supported the actor recently saying that Akshay’s career graph and his contribution to the film industry definitely deserve a National Award.
WATCH NOW : Best Child Artist – Master Adish Praveen – #NationalFilmAwards on @DDNational pic.twitter.com/6fcUeDisc4
— Doordarshan National (@DDNational) May 3, 2017
