The National Awards ceremony was held at Delhi’s Vigyan Bhavan. Traditionally, the awards are presented by the President of India, however this year’s honours were presented by the Vice President of India, Venkaiah Naidu.
From Ayushmann Khurrana to Akshay Kumar and from Sanjay Leela Bhansali to Adithya Dhar, many Indian cinema celebrities were present in one room to receive awards or accompany the winners.
Sadly, megastar Amitabh Bachchan, who was supposed to receive the Dadasaheb Phalke Award at the ceremony, skipped the event citing ill health. Now, he will be honoured by President Ram Nath Kovind at the Rashtrapati Bhavan in New Delhi.
T 3584/5/6 –
Down with fever .. ! Not allowed to travel .. will not be able to attend National Award tomorrow in Delhi .. so unfortunate .. my regrets ..— Amitabh Bachchan (@SrBachchan) December 22, 2019
Moving towards the awards, Ayushmann Khurrana shared the ‘Best Actor’ award with his contemporary, Vicky Kaushal. While, Ayushmann bagged it for ‘Andhadhun’, a critical and commercial success, Vicky was honoured for his stellar performance in ‘Uri: The Surgical Strike’.
Thanking everyone for their love and support, the actors shared videos on their respective Instagram. See:
For the ‘Best Actress’, actress Keerthy Suresh bagged the National Award for ‘Mahanati’, a biopic based on Telugu actress Savitri which was critically acclaimed. Besides that, Akshay Kumar’s movie ‘Padman’ was presented the award for ‘Best Film on Social Issues’, a movie based on Arunachalam Muruganantham who introduced low cost sanitary napkins.
Actor @akshaykumar received the award for the film #Padman at 66th #NationalFilmAwards. pic.twitter.com/9TtIWK2PAC
— Prasar Bharati News Services (@PBNS_India) December 23, 2019
Oceans away, global star Priyanka Chopra couldn’t keep calm as ‘Paani’, made under her production house ‘Purple Pebble Pictures’ won the ‘Best Film on Environment Conservation/ Preservation’ award. Feeling honoured and proud, the ‘Desi Girl’ tweeted about the same.
Such an honour to receive the prestigious #NationalFilmAwards for #Paani (Best Film on Environment Conservation/Preservation).
I cannot believe I wasn’t there to receive this! Thank u @adinathkothare for making such a wonderful movie for us & receiving the award on our behalf… pic.twitter.com/1cFSyuVxcm— PRIYANKA (@priyankachopra) December 23, 2019
