The 68th National Film Awards were declared on Friday. Suriya (Soorarai Pottru) and Ajay Devgn (Tanhaji: The Unsung Warrior) shared the Best Actor award, and Aparna Murali (Soorarai Pottru) won the award for Best Actress. Soorarai Pottru was adjudged Best Film. Late director Sachidanandan bagged the Best Director award for Malayalam film Ayyappanum Koshiyum.
The 68th National Film Award for best supporting actor went to Biju Menon for Ayyappanum Koshiyum. Lakshmi Priyaa Chandramouli won best supporting actress award for her performance in the Tamil film Sivaranjiniyum Innum Sila Pengalum.
The award for most film-friendly state was presented to Madhya Pradesh. Toolsidas Junior received the award for Best Hindi Film.
Soorarai Pottru also won Best Screenplay for Shalini Usha Nair and director Sudha Kongara as well as Best Music Direction (Background Score) for G.V. Prakash Kumar.
Malayalam actor Biju Menon won the best Best Supporting Actor award for Ayyappanum Koshiyum. The film also won the award for Best Action Direction (Stunt Choreography) and Best Playback Female Singer (Nanchamma).
The Best Playback Singer Male was given to Rahul Deshpande for Marathi film Mi Vasantrao.
Tamil artiste Lakshmi Priya Chandramouli was named the Best Supporting Actress for her performance in Tamil movie Sivaranjaniyum Innum Sila Pengallum, which also received the Best Editing award for Sreekar Prasad.
The Best Hindi Film prize went to Toolsidas Junior, directed by Mridul Toolsidas. The Ashutosh Gowariker production, which was the last film appearance of late actor Rajiv Kapoor, also received a Special Jury Mention for child actor Varun Buddhadev.
Over 300 feature films and 150 non-feature films competed for the awards in 50 categories this year. Filmmaker Vipul Shah led the 10-member jury.
—With PTI inputs
