69th National Awards: Alia Bhatt has 'stars in her eyes', Waheeda Rehman feels 'grateful', Allu Arjun breaks into signature 'Pushpa' jig on stage!

The much-awaited 69th National Award Ceremony has begun!

The prestigious event is being held at New Delhi's Vigyan Bhavan. Several A-listers from several industries, including the winners - Alia Bhatt, Allu Arjun, and SS Rajamouli are among the eminent guests at the event.

The winners were handed the award by President of India, Droupadi Murmu. The Press Information Bureau live-streamed the event on the social media. Information and Broadcasting Minister Anurag Thakur also presided over the event. He thanked the film fraternity for continuing to entertain the public during the pandemic.

'Gangubai' Has Stars In Her Eyes!

Bollywood diva Alia Bhatt walked in with her hubby, actor Ranbir Kapoor. While receiving the award for Best Actress, she looked overcome with emotional and told Times Now, "My eyes are full of stars now." The actress received the award for her outstanding performance as Gangubai Harjeevandas, a bordello madame turned gangster, who singlehandedly empowers the women of her brothel. In an interview with DD National, the 'Raazi' star thanked Sanjay Leela Bhansali, the director of 'Gangubai Kathiawadi' as well.

Alia stole the show in her wedding sari - a delicate, ivory coloured ensemble,which she teamed up with a stunning choker and matching earrings. Kapoor looked dapper in a black sherwani.

Bunny Breaks Into A Jig!

Allu Arjun aka Bunny, couldn't control his excitement as he went onstage to collect his award for Best Actor (male). Addressing the media, he said, "I am extremely happy that I am receiving this award. It's a double achievement for me to receive it for a commercial film." For the uninformed, the 'Pushpa' star became the first ever actor from Telugu Film Industry to win this accolade. Before bowing out from the stage, the 'Desamuduru' actor broke out in to his signature dance move from 'Pushpa'.

Rajamouli Collects His Sixth Award

This is far from the first time, the Telugu auteur has been felicitated with National Awards. However, he looked every bit elated as he collected his sixth National Award for Best Direction. While collecting the award, he said, "When it comes to awards at the National level, with 6 awards, I obviously feel very happy about it." The director bagged the award for best Director for his magnum opus 'RRR'.

Waheeda Rehman Expresses Gratitude

The veteran actress was honoured with a Dadasaheb Phalke Award for her lifelong contribution to films. Known for classics such as 'Guide', 'Pyaasa', 'Kaagaz Ki Phool', 'Ram Aur Shyam' etc, the actress told Times Now, "I am very grateful."

In an interview with Doordarshan, she told that this award was quite unexpected as she had not been active in movies for the past decade or so. "I thought all the awards that I had to receive in my lifetime, I have received and there is nothing left. Also, I haven't done any film in the past 10-12 years. So, when Anurag Thakur told me (about winning the award), I went quiet for some time. I told him I haven't worked in the recent times. He said, 'This is for the work you have done in the past so many years. We are giving you and you just accept it."

Kriti Sanon Is 'Elated'!

Sanon who also bagged an award for 'Best Actress', along with Bhatt, for the comedy-drama 'Mimi' said she was extremely "elated" to have won such an important award in the first decade of her career. She also thanked director Laxman Utekar for giving her the opportunity to play such an interesting and dynamic role. "To win a National Award within the first decade (of your career) is a very big thing. I am really fortunate and blessed that I got an opportunity like 'Mimi'. Sometimes you do not get to play such a layered character easily," she told Doordarshan.

Like her co-winner, the 'Mimi' star was also draped in an elegant ivory saree.

Other winners included the Madhavan-starrer 'Rocketry : The Nambi Effect', which won an award for Best Feature Film. 'The Kashmir Files' won the Nargis Dutt Award for Best Film on National Integration at the 69th National Film Awards. Directed by Vivek Agnihotri, the drama revolves around the exodus on Kashmiri Pandits from the valley in the '90s.

Apart from this, Shoojit Sircar's historical drama cum biopic 'Sardar Udham' also won big, bagging awards for Best Film (Hindi), Best Cinematography (Avik Mukhopadhyay), Best Audiography (Sinoy Joseph), Best Production Design (Dmitrii Malich and Mansi Dhruv Mehta) and Best Costume Design (Veera Kapur Ee) awards.