President Pranab Mukherjee presents 70 awards at the 62nd National Film Awards today

By NewsGram Staff Writer

The President of India Pranab Mukherjee presented the 62nd National Film Awards including Dada Saheb Phalke Award today at a function in Vigyan Bhawan, New Delhi.

A total of 21 Awards will be given by the Honourable President in the Non-Feature film category while the number of awards in Feature Film category is 45. Three Awards will be given to Best Writing on Cinema.

The National Film Awards are conferred every year on May 3rd for films produced in the previous calendar year, the day on which, in 1913, India's first feature length film Raja Harish Chandra was released.

The highlights of the 62nd National Film Awards are as follows:

• The Award for the Best Feature Film was given to Court (Marathi, Hindi, Gujarati & English) produced by Zoo Entertainment Pvt. Ltd. and directed by Chaitanya Tamhane.
• Indira Gandhi Award for Best Debut Film of a Directorwill was given to Asha Jaoar Majhe (Bengali) directed by Aditya Vikram Sengupta and Producer: F.O.R Films Pvt. Ltd.
• The Award for the Best Popular Film providing Wholesome Entertainment was given to Mary Kom (Hindi) produced by Viacom 18 Motion Pictures and Directed by Omung Kumar.
• The Award for the Best Film on Social Issues was given to Chotoder Chobi (Bengali) produced by Shree Venkatesh Films Pvt. Ltd. and directed by Kaushik Ganguly.
• The Award for the Best Director was given to Shri Srijit Mukherji for the Film Chotushkone(Bengali).
• The Award for the Best Actor was given to Shri Vijay for the film Nanu Avanalla Avalu (Kannada).
• The Award for the Best Actress was given to Ms. Kangana Ranaut for the film, Queen (Hindi).