Films that broke stereotypes win national awards

New Delhi : Vice-President Venkaiah Naidu on Monday presented the National Film Awards to this year's winners with actors Vicky Kaushal, Ayushmann Khurrana and Keerthy Suresh receiving top honours.

Megastar Amitabh Bachchan, who was supposed to receive the Dadasaheb Phalke Award at the ceremony, skipped the event citing ill health.

The 77-year-old actor will now be honoured by President Ram Nath Kovind on December 29 at a high-tea, to be hosted at Rashtrapati Bhavan for the winners.

Naidu said he was happy that films which were recognised at the 66th edition of National Film Awards broke stereotypes and attacked superstitions.

"The feature films this year are as much about emotions as they are about intelligence... In the banquet of films, we have films that break stereotypes and attack superstitions sensitively.

We see through the makers' imagination the orthodox traditions giving way to modern solutions," Naidu said during the ceremony.

He also praised non-feature films for dealing with a wide range of subjects such as female infanticide, human trafficking and adoption.

I&B minister Prakash Javadekar called cinema the soft power of a strong country like India. "I always believe that cinema is a soft power of a strong India.

The influence of this soft power is visible when I go to other countries. The culture and art of a country is its power and we need to present this power to the whole world," he said.

Ayushmann and Vicky, who won the best actor award for their work in "Andhadhun" and "Uri: The Surgical Strike", attended the ceremony with "Pad Man" star Akshay Kumar. Both best actor winners later took to Instagram to express their gratitude.

Keerthy, the winner of best actress award for Telugu star Savitri's bilingual biopic "Mahanati", was elated to get the recognition. "I feel blessed and honoured to receive the National Award for a film which is so close to my heart," the actor told PTI.

Apart from Vicky, director of "Uri...", Aditya Dhar, also won his first National Award for directing the film based on the 2016 Indian Army's surgical strikes on terror launch pads in Pakistan.

"It is the best feeling. Since childhood whenever I used to think about getting into films, the first thought that would come to my mind was to win the National Award one day and receiving it for my debut film is surreal," Dhar told PTI.

"Hellaro", a Gujarati film on women empowerment, won the best feature film honour. Director Abhishek Shah said as a feminist, it was great to receive the award for a subject that he is so passionate about.

The best popular film providing wholesome entertainment went to "Badhaai Ho!", a story breaking the stereotype of middle age pregnancy through easy narrative.

Director Amit Ravindernath Sharma said he never imagined the film would touch so many hearts.