Announced recently, The National Film Awards pulled no real surprises. Rituparno Ghosh’s ‘Choker Bali’ a strong contender for Best Film was awarded the best Bengali film and The Marathi film Shwas bagged the Best Film title.
Child actor Arun Chitale, who gave a touching performace as a child about to lose his vision in 'Shwaas' walked away with the honours in the category sharing it with Kalidasan in the Malayalam film 'Ente Veedu Appoontem'.

Best Film: Shwas
Shwas, directed by Pradeep Sawant, won the coveted Best Film prize.
Shwas is the first Marathi film in over 50 years to bag the National Award for Best Film. The film is based on a real life story. The film has actor-producer Arun Nalavade playing an ingenuous grandfather caring for child who has gone blind after a life saving operation.

Best Wholesome Entertainment: Munnabhai MBBS
Rajkumar Hirani's Munnabhai MBBS has won the Best Wholesome Entertainment at the 51st National Film Awards.
Producer Vidhu Vinod Chopra and the director Raj Kumar Hirani could never have guessed how popular this comedy would prove to be. Sunjay Dutt shone as the Tapori with a heart of gold, a hugging thug who plays doctor mending many hearts along the way.

Best Director: Gautam Ghosh
Critically acclaimed director Gautam Ghosh won the award for Best Director for his Bengali film "Aabar Aranye" Ghosh has made several films on social issues and believes that cinema makes a powerful and lasting statement. His earlier films include with Hungry Autumn, Mabhoomi, Dakhal Antarjali Yatra and Padma Nadir Majhi. Paar and Dekha.

Best Actor: Vikram
Vikram was adjudged the Best Actor for his role in the Tamil film Pithamaga.
Vikram who is one of the most popular stars in Tamil films walks away with Best Actor Award at National Film Festival. Known to his fans as Cheeya (his nickname from his super hit film Sethu), Vikram is known to go great lengths to change his appearance according to the roles he portrays. His next film is Samurai that will be directed by Balajee.

Best Actress: Meera Jasmine
Meera Jasmine, one of the most promising new faces of Malayalam cinema, has won this year’s Best Actress Award. Meera Jasmine won the Award for her role in the Malyalam Film Padam Onnu Oru Vilapam. She bagged the Kerala State award for her performance in Padam onnu oru Vilapam, and Kastooriman' from the State Government.

Best Bangla Film: Chokher Bali
Rituparno Ghosh’s, Chokher Bali is based on Rabindranath Tagore's novel by the same name.
The film, which created waves on its release last year, has been screened at nearly major international film festivals, including Cannes, Locarno and Toronto. The film made news as it has Aishwarya Rai in the role of a young widow.

Best Supporting Actress award: Sharmila Tagore
Sharmila Tagore bagged the Best Supporting Actress award for her role in Abar Aranye.

Best male playback singer: Sonu Nigam
Sonu Nigam won the award for his rendering of f the title song in Karan Johar’s hanky wringer Kal Ho Na Ho.

Best female playback singer: Tarali Sarma
Tarali Sarma was crwoned best female playback singer for her rendition in 'Akashitorar Kothare' in Assamese.

The award for the best art direction is shared between Indranil Ghosh for the Bengali film Chokher Bali and Sharmistha Roy for M.F. Husain's Hindi film Meenaxi: A Tale Of Three Cities.

Special Jury Award: Manoj Bajpai
Popular Bollywood actor Manoj Bajpai has received Special Jury Award for Pinjar. After garnering rave reviews for his role as Bhikhu Mhatre in Satya, Bajpai acted in many Bollywood films. His performance as Rasheed in Pinjar opposite a very impressive Urmila Matondkar fetched him this award.

Best choreography - Farah Khan (for the song 'Idhar Chala, Main Udhar Chala' of Koi Mil Gaya)

Indira Gandhi award for the best first film of a director – Maargam (Malayalam); Producer Rajiv Vijay Raghavan; Director Rajiv Vijay Raghavan

Nargis Dutt award for best feature film on national integration - Pinjar (Hindi); Producer Lucky Star Entertainment Limited; Director Dr Chandra Prakash Dwivedi

Best feature film in Hindi - Raghu Romeo; Producer National Film Development Corporation Ltd; Director Rajat Kapoor

Best feature film in Tamil - Eyarkai ; Producer V R Kumar; Director S P Jhananathan

Best feature film in Telugu - Aithe ; Producer Gunnam Ganga Raju; Director Chandra Shekhar Yeleti

Best lyrics - Suddala Ashok Teja (for Telugu film Tagore)

Best cinematography - Abhik Mukhopadhyay (for the Bengali film Bhalo Theko)

Best screenplay - Goutam Ghose (for Abar Aranye)

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