The winners of the 67th National Film Awards, which took place in New Delhi, were announced on Monday, with Dhanush and Manoj Bajpayee bagging the Best Actor award for the Tamil film Asuran and Hindi movie Bhonsle respectively.
Meanwhile, Kangana Ranaut won the Best Actress award for her performance in the Hindi films Manikarnika: The Queen of Jhansi and Panga.
Vijay Sethupathi earned the title of Best Supporting Actor for the Tamil film Super Deluxe, while Pallavi Joshi bagged the Best Supporting Role for the Bollywood drama The Tashkent Files.
Talking about how she felt after receiving the award, Pallavi Joshi said, “I am really happy, you know. Definitely, it would be wrong for me to say that I am not happy with my award. Of course, I am happy and on cloud nine.
“What I am really happy about is, Vivek (director of the film and husband Vivek Agnihotri) won; it is his first National Award and I am so excited, happy and proud of him. I think The Tashkent Files was a kick-ass film and he put in his best when he wrote The Tashkent Files. To get recognition for his writing as the screenplay and dialogue writer means immense loads for me. Of course, there are a lot of ifs and buts, ‘Oh, you should have this award and that award.’ But then he has won a National Award and he is a National Award winner and I am so happy. And even before this euphoria started with the announcement of Vivek’s name dying down, my name came up. So it took me a while to accept that I won too.
“And what could be better, you know, when both husband and wife are winning together. I mean, it is a crazy feeling, something I cannot put in words at all. But, I am very happy,” she gushed.
Pallavi also expressed her heartfelt gratitude for fans who had taken the effort to watch the movie in theatres, and said she would dedicate this award to every person who has watched The Tashkent Files.
She said, “I must say one thing: All the critics and so-called intellectuals had panned this film completely by giving it zero stars and God knows what all without even recognising that a filmmaker goes through a lot of blood, sweat and tears to make a film. Yet, they completely panned the film. But it was only the people of India, who took that effort, went to the theatre and saw that film. Not just for the film, they spread awareness about it through social media, on WhatsApp, Facebook and Twitter. They wrote essays on the film, which other people read and thronged the theatres. And that is how the film completed 100 days at the box office. So whatever The Tashkent Files is today, is because of the audience and people of India. If we two have won the National Award, it is again thanks to the people of India who showed their belief and faith in us. So, I would definitely dedicate this award to every person who has seen the film and has given so much joy and happiness.”
Meanwhile, Kangana took to social media to post a thank-you video. Speaking in Hindi, Kangana said, “I will be forever grateful to the whole team of Manikarnika for supporting me in every possible manner and standing by me. I want to share the National Award with each one of you.”
The actress also thanked the cast for Panga in the video. “I share this award with all of them. When it comes to Panga, I was just an actress. I would like to thank all,” she said.
Finally, Kangana thanked her fans and family, saying nothing would have been possible without their support.
On Instagram, Kangana captioned the video, “Words can’t express my feelings. Thank you so much.”
On the other hand, people from the Chhichhore cast paid tribute to late actor Sushant Singh Rajput after the film received the Best Hindi Film award.
Actor Varun Sharma said, “This is a huge validation and we are truly overwhelmed. This win means the world to us. But above all of this, this one is for Kammo (Varun’s character used to call Sushant ‘Kammo’ in the film), and will always remain closest to our hearts.”
Actor Tahir Raj Bhasin said, “As we celebrate our big win, today will also be a day of remembrance and gratitude for Sushant without whom this story would never have been told.”
Arunava Joy Sengupta and Akash Chawla from Fresh Lime Films, and Shareen Mantri Kedia and Kishor Arora from Namah Pictures, who jointly produced the Marathi film Anandi Gopal, said they were honoured to receive two National Awards for the Best Feature Film on Social Issues and Best Production Design. The team said, “Humbled, honoured, ecstatic with this award… Our first film and first National Award… A dream come true… All thanks to the hard, passionate work done by each and every team member.”