66th National Film Awards: Surekha Sikri Gets Standing Ovation, Akshay, Ayushmann & Vicky Kaushal Receive Award

The belated National Awards ceremony took place in the capital today where Vice-President Venkaiah Naidu presented the awards out to the winners. The event took place at Vigyan Bhawan today.

This year's Dadasaheb Phalke awardee Amitabh Bachchan, 77, could not attend, having shared the news last evening, stating he is "down with fever."

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 ..

¡ª Amitabh Bachchan (@SrBachchan) December 22, 2019

Here are the key highlights of the event.

1. Vice-President Naidu paid Amitabh Bachchan a tribute in his speech, calling him "an institution by himself".

2. Prakash Javadekar, Minister for Information and Broadcasting, noted the popularity of Indian films abroad, particularly China.

Best Actor (Feature Films Section) goes to @vickykaushal09 for #URI: The Surgical Strike for effectively conveying a realistic character of an army officer. #NationalFilmAwards pic.twitter.com/J39YnXGugd

¡ª PIB India (@PIB_India) December 23, 2019

3. Special mentions were made by him to a few awardees including Best Actors Ayushmann Khurrana and Vicky Kaushal, Best Actress Keerthy Suresh, and Akshay Kumar, whose movie PadMan won the award for Best Film on Social Issues.

#Padman wins the award for the Best Film on Social Issues

Actor @akshaykumar receives the award for the film #Padman at 66th #NationalFilmAwards pic.twitter.com/QVLpmMu1BV

¡ª PIB India (@PIB_India) December 23, 2019

4. Best Supporting Actress Surekha Sikri, who received her prize in a wheelchair, got a standing ovation. Ms. Sikri was awarded for her performance in Badhaai Ho.

5. The winners of the Best Music Direction prizes - Sanjay Leela Bhansali for "Padmaavat" and Shashwat Sachdev for Uri: The Surgical Strike - were also praised.

Have a look at a few more pictures from the ceremony.

Just for a recap, here is the list of all the awardees that were announced in August this year.

Best Feature Film: Hellaro

Best Direction: Aditya Dhar, Uri: The Surgical Strike

Best Actor (Male): Ayushmann Khurrana (Andhadhun), Vicky Kaushal (Uri: The Surgical Strike)

Best Actor (Female): Keerthy Suresh (Mahanati)

Best Supporting Actor (Male): Swanand Kirkire (Chumbak)

Best Supporting Actor (Female): Surekha Sikri (Badhaai Ho)

Best Popular Film providing wholesome entertainment: Badhaai Ho

Best Hindi Film: Andhadhun

Best Original Screenplay: Chi La Sow, Rahul Ravindran

Best Adapted Screenplay: Andhadhun, Sriram Raghavan, Arijit Biswas, Yogesh Chandekar, Hemant Rao & Pooja Ladha Surti

Best Film on Social Issues: Padman

Best Music Direction: Padmaavat, Sanjay Leela Bhansali

Best Background Score: Uri: The Surgical Strike, Shashwat Sachdev

Best Female Playback Singer: Bindu Malini (Maayavi Manave ¨C Nathicharami)

Best Male Playback Singer: Arjit Singh (Binte Dil ¨C Padmaavat)

Best Lyrics: ¡°Maayavi Manave¡­¡± from Nathicharami

Special Mention Awards: Sruthi Hariharan, Chandrachoor Rai, Joju George and Savithri

Special Jury Award: Hellaro actresses Shraddha Dangar, Shachi Joshi, Denisha Ghumra, Neelam Paanchal, Tarjani Bhadla, Brinda Nayak, Tejal Panchasara, Kaushambi Bhatt, Ekta Bachwani, Kamini Panchal, Jagruti Thakore, Riddhi Yadav, Prapti Mehta and Kedara director Indradip Dasgupta

Best Cinematography: Olu, MJ Radhakrishnan

Best Dialogue: Tarikh

Best Action Direction: KGF, Vikram More & Anbu Ariv

Best Choreography: Padmaavat, Kruti Mahesh Madya & Jyoti Tomar for Ghoomar

Best Costume Design: Mahanati

Best Special Effects: Awe (Srushti Creative Studio) and KGF (Unifi Media)

Best Makeup artist: Awe, Ranjith

Best Editing: Nathicharami, Nagendra K Ujjani

Best Production Design: Kammara Sambhavam, Bangalan

Best Sound Design: Uri: The Surgical Strike, Bishwadeep Dipak Chatterjee

Best Location Sound Recordist: Tendlya, Gaurav Verma

Best Re-recordist of the final mixed track: Rangasthalam, Raja Krishnan MR

Nargis Dutt Award for Best Film on National Integration: Ondalla Eradalla

Best Child Artist: PV Rohit, Sahib Singh, Talha Arshad Reshi and Shrinivas Pokale

Best Debut Film of a Director: Naal (Sudhakar Reddy Yakkanti)

Best Malayalam Film: Sudani from Nigeria

Best Marathi Film: Bhonga

Best Urdu Film: Hamid

Best Tamil Film: Baaram

Best Rajasthani Film: Turtle

Best Telugu Film: Mahanati

Best Assamese Film: Bulbul Can Sing

Best Punjabi Film: Harjeeta

Best Bengali Film: Ek Je Chhilo Raja

Best Garo Film: Maama

Best Kannada Film: Nathicharami

Best Konkani Film: Amori

Best Gujarati Film: Reva

Best Sherdukpan Film: Mishing

Best Panchanga Film: In The Land Of Poisonous Women

Best Film on Environment Conservation: Paani

Best Children¡¯s Film: Sarkari Hiriya Prathamika Shale Kasargodu