'Soorarai Pottru' wins big, Suriya and Ajay Devgn share Best Actor prize

New Delhi:Tamil film "Soorarai Pottru" won the National Award for Best Feature, Best Actor and Best Actress at the 68th National Film Awards for 2020 announced on Friday.

The second big winner of the day was Ajay Devgn-starrer "Tanhaji: The Unsung Warrior" which bagged the awards for Best Actor for Devgn and Best Popular Film Providing Wholesome Entertainment. Directed by Om Raut, "Tanhaji..." is based on the life of Tanaji Malusare, the military leader of Maratha king Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj's army.

Set in the 17th century, the film also won the Best Costume Designer for Nachiket Barve and Mahesh Sherla. Devgn shared the Best Actor award with Suriya, who got it for "Soorarai Pottru". The film, inspired by the life of Air Deccan founder Capt G R Gopinath, also won Aparrna Balamurali the Best Actress prize.

The Bollywood star, who has previously won the National Film Award for Best Actor for his performances in "Zakhm" (1998) and "The Legend of Bhagat Singh" (2002), said he was elated to receive the honour for the third time. "I'm elated to win the Best Actor Award for 'Tanhaji—The Unsung Warrior' at the 68th National Awards along with Suriya who won for 'Soorarai Pottru'. "I thank everyone, most of all my creative team, the audience and my fans. I also express my gratitude to my parents & the Almighty for their blessings. Congratulations to all the other winners," Devgn said in a statement. "Soorarai Pottru" also won Best Screenplay for Shalini Usha Nair and director Sudha Kongara as well as Best Music Direction (Background Score) for GV Prakash Kumar.

The late Malayalam filmmaker Sachidanandan KR was posthumously named Best Director for "Ayyappanum Koshiyum", which also won Best Supporting Actor for Biju Menon, Best Action Direction (Stunt Choreography) and Best Playback Female Singer for 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 the late actor Rajiv Kapoor, also received a Special Jury Mention for child actor Varun Buddhadev.

In the music category, Thaman S won the Best Music Direction (Songs) for Allu Arjun's Telugu hit "Ala Vaikunthapurramuloo", while Best Lyrics was given to Manoj Muntashir for Hindi film "Saina". Telugu movie "Natyam" won awards for Best Make-up Artist (TV Rambabu) and Best Choreography (Sandhya Raju).

Filmmaker Madonne Ashwin won the Indira Gandhi Award for Best Debut film of a Director for his Tamil venture "Mandela". 

He was also given the Best Dialogue writer prize for the film. Best Cinematography award went to Supratim Bhol for the Bengali movie "Avijatrik".

The winners for the 68th National Film Awards were selected by the 10-member jury headed by Hindi filmmaker Vipul Shah. The awards were announced by jury member Dharam Gulati. The prize for the Most Film Friendly state went to Madhya Pradesh, with Special Mention for Uttarakhand and Uttar Pradesh. Author Kishwar Desai's "The Longest Kiss", based on 10 years of research and 400 letters written by cinema icon Devika Rani, received the award for the Best Book on Cinema.