Filmmaker S.S. Rajamouli's southern magnum opus Baahubali: The Beginning was named the Best Feature Film at the 63rd National Film Awards announcement in New Delhi on Monday. Bollywood stars Amitabh Bachchan's performance in Piku and Kangana Ranaut's dual act in Tanu Weds Manu Returns was lauded with the Best Actor and Best Actress honour.
Baahubali: The Beginning, which was a box office wonder, was lauded for being an "imaginative film, monumental by its production values and cinematic brilliance in creating a fantasy world on the screen" by filmmaker Ramesh Sippy, head of the Feature Film jury.
Baahubali was even named for the award for Best Special Effects as these brought out the "emotional and dramatic upheavals of the story" in the movie.
While some other marvels of southern cinema have found a place in the list of winners, Bollywood clearly stole the limelight with Bajrangi Bhaijaan winning the Best Popular Film Providing Wholesome Entertainment; and Sanjay Leela Bhansali getting the Best Direction Award for Bajirao Mastani, which also won the Best Supporting Actress award for Tanvi Azmi.
The period drama even emerged victorious in the Best Cinematography category, while Remo D'Souza won the Best Choreography honour for "creating enchanting moves" for the track Deewani mastani, and Shriram Iyengar, Saloni Dhatrak and Sujeet Sawant won for the movie's production design.
In the audiography section, Biswadeep Chatterjee's sound designing and Justin Ghose's re-recording of the final mixed track for the Ranveer Singh and Deepika Padukone starrer, have been honoured.
Another big Bollywood winner was Dum Laga Ke Haisha, which was not just named Best Hindi Film, but also won the Best Female Playback Singer for Monali Thakur for a "delightful and soulful rendition of a song of love", Moh moh ke dhaage. The use of "fresh, simple array of metaphors" in the song by Varun Grover was appreciated with Best Lyrics honour.
A Special Jury Award went to Kalki Koechlin for her "realistic performance as a young woman afflicted with cerebral palsy" in Margarita, With A Straw, whereas Ritika Singh, a kick boxer-turned-actress, got a special mention for "gutsy performance of a boxer in the making".
Neeraj Ghaywan, whose unusual drama Masaan found critical acclaim nationally and internationally, has been encouraged with the Indira Gandhi Award for Best Debut Film of a Director for "his perceptive approach to filmmaking in handling a layered story of people caught up in changing social and moral values".
Social media platforms were abuzz with users slamming the importance given to Bollywood vis-a-vis regional cinema. Another interesting facet that emerged was that the honours went to movies which were true blue box office wonders in 2015.
As for the Screenplay segment, the award for the Best Screenplay Writer (original) is shared by Juhi Chaturvedi (Piku) and Himanshu Kumar (Tanu Weds Manu Returns)—who have even shared the Best Dialogue honour—while the Best Screenplay Writer (adapted) award has gone to Vishal Bhardwaj for Talvar.