Joel Dommett to host National Television Awards, talks about its afterparty

The 68th National Film Awards were presented by President Droupadi Murmu on September 30. The ceremony was held at New Delhi’s Vigyan Bhawan. This year’s ceremony felicitated outstanding work done in Indian cinema in the year 2020, which got delayed due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

Veteran actress Asha Parekh was honoured with the 52nd Dadasaheb Phalke Award. It is the highest recognition in the field of Indian cinema.The 79-year-old actress has been associated with the film industry since 1952.

The Best Actor Award was shared by South star Suriya and Bollywood’s Ajay Devgn for ‘Soorari Pottru’ and ‘Tanhaji: The Unsung Warrior’ respectively. This award was the ‘Drishyam’ actor’s third win. He had previously won for ‘Zakhm’ and ‘The Legend Of Bhagat Singh’.

Actor Ajay Devgan received two National awards for ‘Tanhaji: The Unsung Warrior’, one as a producer of Best Feature Film (Award for Best Popular Film providing Wholesome Entertainment) and one as Best Actor.

It seems that it was quite an evening for the power couple Suriya and his wife Jyothika. While Suriya bagged the Best Actor Award, his wife received the Best Feature Film Award for ‘Soorari Pootrui’.

South superstar Aparma Murali received the Best Actress Award for Tamil film ‘Soorarai Pootru’. The actress looked stunning in the purple saree at the event.

Veteran singer Nanjiyamma was conferred with the Best Female Playback Singer award for ‘AK Ayyappanum Koshiyum’ (Malyalam). The singer received a standing ovation from the audience as she went on the stage to receive the award.

Rahul Deshpande won the Best Male Playback Singer award for ‘Mi Vasantrao’ (Marathi). This was the singer’s first ever National Award.

Manoj Muntashir was honoured with the National Award for Best Lyrics in the Parineeti Chopra starrer ‘Saina’, the biopic on shuttler Saina Nehwal.