NATIONAL AWARDS : Paa, 3 Idiots, Dev D and Lahore take home

The 57th National Film Awards were announced yesterday. Amitabh Bachchan bagged the award for Best Actor for his role in Paa.

Says the Big B, "I thank the Government of India and the National Awards committee for this great honour. Paa has bagged four National Awards, including Best Hindi Film, Best Supporting Actress by Arundhati Nag and Best Make-up by Christien Tinsley and Dominie Till."

He adds, "I especially thank R Balki -- whose exceptional vision and passion created this wonderful film, Abhishek - who took complete charge of the project as the producer and Natasha and Dakshina for their valuable assistance on the make-up. This is an important success for AB Corp Ltd and the entire cast and crew."

3 Idiots won the Best Film in the Most Popular Category. This is the third time that director Rajkumar Hirani and producer Vinod Chopra producer have won a National award. Both Munnabhai films had also won one each.

Says Chopra, "It's an overwhelming feeling. I have just returned from the US, where I was working for pre-production of my next and I landed here two days back and I get welcomed with such overwhelming news. It's really a proud moment for our production house."

Maintains Hirani, "It's an extremely humbling moment -- the audience has loved and cherished this film so much and now, we are also getting recognised by getting a National award."

Director Sanjay Puran Singh Chauhan bagged the Indira Gandhi Award For Best Debut Film of A Director. He says, "This is a very special moment. I am honoured and deeply touched on getting the National Award for Lahore. It is the ultimate encouragement and faith in the first movie I made. It is going to take some time to sink in the fact that I have won a National Award on my first attempt. "

THE WINNERS

BEST FILM: Kutty Srank (Malayalam)

BEST FILM FOR NATIONAL INTEGRation: Delhi-6

BEST FILM IN THE MOST POPULAR CATEGORY: 3 Idiots

BEST FILM ON SOCIAL ISSUES: Well Done Abba

BEST Director dEBUT: Sanjay Puran Singh (Lahore)

BEST DIRECTOR: Rituparno Ghosh (Abohoman)

BEST ACTOR: Amitabh Bachchan (Paa)

BEST ACTRESS: Ananya Chatterjee (Abohoman)

BEST SUPPORTING ROLE (Male): Farooque Shaikh (Lahore)

BEST SUPPORTING ROLE (Female): Arundhati Nag (Paa)

BEST CAMERAWORK: Anjuli Shukla (Kutty Srank)

BEST SOUND ENGINEER: Resul Pookutty (Pazhassiraja)

BEST CHOREOGRAPHY: K Shivashankar (Magadheera)

BEST PLAYBACK SINGER (MALE): Rupam Islam (Mahanager)

BEST PLAYBACK SINGER (FEMALE): Neelanjana Sarkar (Houseful)

BEST MUSIC: Dev D

BEST LYRICS: Swanand Kirkire for 3 Idiots

BEST MUSIC DIRECTOR: Amit Trivedi (Dev D)

BEST MUSIC SCORE: Ilayaraja (Pazhassiraja)

BEST CHILDren's FILM: Putaani Party and Keshu shared honours

BEST CHILD ACTOR: Jeeva and Anba Karasu (Pasanga)