The jury on Monday announced the winners of 63rd National Awards from Hindi and regional cinemas. The popular movies like Baahubali, Bajirao Mastani and Piku have bagged the top honours.
Multilingual movie Baahubali, directed by S.S Rajamouli, won the best film title. The two-part epic tale became one of the biggest blockbusters of 2015 with record breaking collections across the country. It also did record business overseas. The second part of the film is in making and will hit the big screens in 2017.
Bollywood megastar Amitabh Bachchan won best actor for his performance in Piku as ageing and nagging father with serious constipation problems. The film was critical acclaimed for portraying complex dynamics in father and daughter relationship of a Bengali family. The titular role was played by Deepika Padoke and Irrfan Khan had played a supporting role.
Actress Kangana Ranaut has bagged her third national award in best actress category for her role in Tanu Weds Manu Returns. She had won the award last year for her role in Queen and had won the Best Supporting Actress for Fashion in 2008.
Director Sanjay Leela Bhansali, who has already bagged top trophies for his magnum opus Bajirao Mastani, won the best director award.
Meanhwile, actor Salman Khan's blockbuster movie Bajrangi Bhaijaan won the award in best popular movie category.
The list of winners were handed over to Information and Broadcasting Minister Arun Jaitley on Monday by jury members, who examined over 300 movies for various categories of the National Award. The award ceremony will take place on May 3.
Gujarat, meanwhile, was named the 'most film-friendly state' at the 63rd National Film Awards. This is the first time that the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting has bestowed this award in order to promote film tourism in states.
"We had 16 entries from different states, and this is a major step by the Indian government to promote film tourism in the states because this sort of an award will enthuse the states. We chose Gujarat primarily because of the efforts in the direction of ease of doing business and facilitation of films and towards the promotion of Indian cinema," said Senthil Rajan, director, Directorate of Film Festivals, while announcing the award at the National Media Centre in New Delhi.
A special mention was also given to Uttar Pradesh for its single window clearance efforts and incentives offered by the government, and to Kerala.
Apart from Rajan, the jury for choosing the 'most film-friendly state' were Sudhir Mishra, Bharat Bala and Pravesh Sahani.
