Bhubaneswar: The 68th National Award for best actor was shared by Ajay Devgn and Suriya. The actors got the prestigious award for their films ‘Tanhaji: The Unsung Warrior’ and ‘Soorarai Pottru’ respectively, the I & B Ministry informed on Friday afternoon.
A semi-biographical drama, ‘Soorarai Pottru’ won in three of the four major award categories. Besides the best actor award, the Tamil film was also adjudged the best feature film at the National Film Awards 2022 and Aparna Balamurali won the best actress award for the same.
‘Tanhaji: The Unsung Warrior’ won the award for best popular film providing wholesome entertainment. Sachidanandan KR will receive the best director for the Malayalam film ‘AK Ayyappanum Koshiyum’ posthumously. Manoj Muntashir has won the award for Best Lyrics for the Hindi movie ‘Saina’.
‘The Longest Kiss’ by Kishwar Desai won the Best Book on Cinema for the year while Malayalam book ‘MT Anunahvangalude Pusthakam’ and Odia book ‘Kali Paine Kalira Cinema’ received special mention.
Here is the list of winners declared so far:
Best Feature Film: Soorarai Pottru
Best Director: Sachy, Ayyappanum Koshiyum
Best Popular Film Providing Wholesome Entertainment: Tanhaji
Best Actor: Suriya for Soorarai Pottru and Ajay Devgn for Tanhaji
Best Actress: Aparna Balamurali, Soorarai Pottru
Best Supporting Actor: Biju Menon, Ayyappanum Koshiyam
Best Supporting Actress: Lakshmi Priya Chandramouli, Sivaranjaniyum Innam Sila Pengallum
Best Music Direction: Ala Vaikunthapurramuloo, S Thaman
Best Male Playback Singer: Rahul Deshpande for Mi Vasantrao and Anish Mangesh Gosavi for Taktak
Best Female Playback Singer: Nanchamma, Ayyappanum Koshiyam
Best Lyrics: Saina, Manoj Muntashir
Best Audiography: Dollu, Mi Vasantrao and Malik
Best Choreography: Natyam
Best Cinematography: Avijatrik
Best Costume Design: Tanhaji
Best Production Design: Kappela
Best Editing: Sivaranjiniyum Innum Sila Pengalum
Best Make-up: Natyam
Best Screenplay: Soorarai Pottru, Sudha Kongara and Mandela, Madonne Ashwin
Best Stunt Choreography: Ayyappanum Koshiyum
Varun Buddhadeb got the special jury mention for Toolsidas Junior, which also won the Best Hindi Film award. Child actor Varun Buddhadeb also won a special jury mention for the Sanjay Dutt and Rajiv Kapoor-starrer.
The award for the most film-friendly state has been given to Madhya Pradesh with a special mention by the jury to Uttarakhand and Uttar Pradesh.
This year, 305 feature films in 30 languages and 148 non-feature films in 20 languages were received as entries from all over the country, said Additional Secretary, I & B Ministry, Neerja Shekhar.
