Anupam Patnaik Receives National Award For Best Odia Film ‘Pratikshya’; Alia Bhatt Repeats Her Wedding Saree

New Delhi/Bhubaneswar: Anupam Patnaik received the 69th National Film Awards for Best Odia Feature Film for his movie ‘Pratikshya’ from President Droupadi Murmu at at Vigyan Bhavan, New Delhi, on Tuesday.

Anupam, the son of eminent Odia producer and director late Amiya Patnaik, was awarded with ‘Silver Lotus Award (Rajat Kamal) and a cash prize of Rs 1,00,000.

‘Pratikshya’, inspired by a short story written by Sarala Puraskar-winning author Gaurahari Das and some true incidents, revolves around an unemployed graduate and his dilemma as he waits for the death of his father – a government employee – to secure the job under the government’s scheme of compassionate appointment. The film, which has Dipanwit Dashmohapatra in the lead, was screened at several prestigious film festivals, including the International Film Festival of India at Goa, before being released on December 2 last year.

Apart from Anupam, bureaucrat Sweta Kumar Das received the National Film Award (Special Mention) for his short film ‘The Healing Touch’, which is based on the Covid-19 pandemic.

Alia Bhatt, who shared the Best Actress prize with Kriti Sanon, was seen wearing the same Sabyasachi saree that she adorned on her wedding day. She teamed up her ivory and gold drape with a stunning choker and matching earrings and completed her look with flowers in her hair. Her husband and actor Ranbir Kapoor, who looked dapper in a black sherwani, cheered her from the audience.

Alia received her National Film Award for her role in Sanjay Leela Bhansali’s ‘Gangubai Kathiawad’.

Waheeda Rehman, recipient of the Dada Saheb Phalke Awards, and Kriti were dressed similarly in cream and gold sarees to the award ceremony. Kriti, who won the Best Actress away for her role of a surrogate mother in ‘Mimi’, also wore flowers in her hair.

Pankaj Tripathi won Best Supporting Actor award also for ‘Mimi’.

Similarly, Allu Arjun won the Best Actor award for Pushpa: The Rule. His wife Sneha Reddy was clicking his picture from among the audience. ‘RRR’ won 6 National Film Awards at the event. ‘Sardar Udham’ also won quite a few awards, including Best audiography, production design.