7 Sep : Tamil filmmaker Priyadarshan’s “Kanchivaram” has bagged the National award for Best film for 2007, while Tamil actor Prakash Raaj pipped Bollywood hearthrobs Aamir and Shahrukh to win the Best actor award for his performance in “Kanchivaram”.
Shahrukh and Aamir, who were in the fray for the best actor award for ‘Chak De India’ and ‘Taare Zameen Par’ respectively, lost the prestigious award to Tamil-Telugu-Kannada actor Prakash Raj.
Prakash Raj won the award for his sterling performance as a silk weaver in Priyadarshan’s Kanchivaram.This would be his second National award. He earlier won the best supporting actor award for Mani Ratnam’s ‘Iruvar’.
Kannada actress Umashree has bagged the best actress award for her performance in Girish Kasaravalli’s Kannada film “Gulabi Talkies” while Feroz Abbas Khans critically acclaimed film “Gandhi My Father”, which explores the troubled relationship between Harilal Gandhi and Mahatma Gandhi, won a special jury award, the sources said.
Best Screenplay Award was also given to ‘Gandhi My Father’.Actor Darshan Zariwala, who played the role of Mahatma Gandhi in the film, has won the best supporting actor award.
Aamir and Shahrukh may have lost out in the Best actor award category but their films ‘Chak De India’ and ‘Taare Zameen Par’ have bagged Best film awards in the wholesome entertainment and the family welfare category.
Playback singer Shankar Mahadevan has won the award for the song “Meri Maa” from the film “Taare Zameen Par” while lyricist Prasoon Joshi won the Best lyricist award for the lyrics of the song.
The best child actor award has gone to Sharad Goyekar for his role in the Marathi film “Tingya”.The sources said the Nargis Dutt award for Best Film On National Integration has gone to Bhavna Talwar’s ‘Dharm’.
The film has pipped other contenders in the category such as Anil Kapoor’s ‘Gandhi My Father’ and SRK’s ‘Chak De India’.The feature film jury was headed by noted filmmaker Sai Paranjpe; other members included Ashok Viswanathan and Namita Gokhale.About 102 films and 106 non-feature films were considered.