Bollywood wins big at National Film Awards

MUMBAI (Reuters) - "Paan Singh Tomar", based on the true story of an Indian athlete who turns into a dreaded outlaw, struck gold at the National Film Awards announced on Monday, winning prizes for best film and best actor in a rare triumph for Bollywood.

In its citation, a jury headed by film-maker Basu Chatterjee praised the movie directed by Tigmanshu Dhulia, lauding its "sleek and sensitive handling of a not-too-common subject with remarkable aplomb."

Irrfan, who played Paan Singh Tomar in the film, shared acting honours with Vikram Gokhale who won for the Marathi film "Anumati".

Bollywood films usually play second fiddle to regional language cinema at the National Awards, but prevailed in key categories this year.

"Vicky Donor", a light-hearted take on sperm donation, won trophies for the male and female supporting roles and shared the award for best popular film with the Malayalam movie "Ustad Hotel".

Annu Kapoor won the supporting actor honour for his turn as the fertility clinic doctor in "Vicky Donor", while Dolly Ahluwalia, who played the sperm donor's mother in the film, shared the supporting actress prize with Kalpana for the Malayalam film "Thanichalla Njan".

Usha Jadhav won the best actress prize for portraying "a rustic housewife in an unlikely setting of a cremation ground" in the Marathi film "Dhag", which also earned Shivaji Lotan Patil the award for best director.

A special jury award came Bollywood's way with actor Nawazuddin Siddiqui honoured for his performance in four Hindi films - "Kahaani", "Gangs of Wasseypur", "Talaash" and "Dekh Indian Circus". Actress Parineeti Chopra got a special mention for her performance in Habib Faisal's "Ishaqzaade".

Nikhil Advani's "Delhi Safari" was adjudged the best animation film while Mangesh Hadawale's "Dekh Indian Circus" won for best children's film.

The song ‘Bolo Na' in "Chittagong" won two awards - male playback singer for Shankar Mahadevan and best lyrics for Prasoon Joshi.

Bollywood also dominated the screenplay category with Sujoy Ghosh picking up the original screenplay award for "Kahaani", a thriller about a pregnant woman searching for her missing husband in Kolkata. Bhavesh Mandalia and Umesh Shukla won for their adapted screenplay of "Oh My God".

In the editing category, Namrata Rao was honoured for her work in "Kahaani".

Kamal Haasan's Tamil film "Vishwaroopam", which was mired in controversy with some Muslim groups protesting over its alleged depiction of the community in a negative light, won awards for best choreography (Birju Maharaj) and best production design (Boontawee Taweepasas and Lalgudi N. Ilayaraja).

The National Film Awards will be presented at a ceremony later this year by President Pranab Mukherjee.

(Reporting by Shilpa Jamkhandikar; Writing by Tony Tharakan)