68th National Film Awards full list: Suriya, Ajay Devgn share 'Best Actor' award; 'Soorarai Pottru' wins big

The jury for the 68th National Film Awards announced the winners for the year 2020 on Friday at the National Media Centre in New Delhi.

The event was organised by the Directorate of Film Festivals, which comes under the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting.

Union Minister for Information and Broadcasting Anurag Thakur congratulated all the winners and said 2020 was a particularly difficult year for films due to the COVID pandemic, yet the nominations consisted of great works.

The minister also thanked the jury for diligently going through the entries and selecting the best for the awards.

The jury comprised of eminent filmmakers and film personalities from across Indian cinema.

The awards were announced by Chitrartha Singh, Chairperson, Non-Feature Jury, Anant Vijay, Chairperson, Best Writing on Cinema Jury and Dharam Gulati, Feature Film Jury (Member - Central Panel) in presence of Neerja Sekhar, Additional Secretary, Ministry of Information and Broadcasting.

The Best Actor Award for 2020 is shared between Suriya for 'Soorarai Pottru' and Ajay Devgn for the Hindi movie 'Tanhaji: The Unsung Warrior'.

Actress Aparna Balamurali bagged the Best Actress award.

Manoj Muntashir has won the award for Best Lyrics for the Hindi movie 'Saina'.

Madhya Pradesh won the 'Most Film Friendly State' award while Uttarakhand and Uttar Pradesh got Special Mention.

'The Longest Kiss' by Kishwar Desai wons Best Book on Cinema for the year while Malayalam book 'MT Anunahvangalude Pusthakam' and Odia book 'Kali Paine Kalira Cinema' won a special mention.

Here is a complete list of the awards:

: Soorarai Pottru (Tamil); Producer: 2D Entertainment Pvt.Ltd; Director: Sudha Kongara

: Soorarai Pottru (Tamil); Actor: Suriya & Tanhaji: The Unsung Warrior (Hindi); Actor: Ajay Devgn

: Soorarai Pottru (Tamil); Actress: Aparrna Balamurali

: AK Ayyappanum Koshiyum (Malayalam); Director: Sachidanandan KR

: AK Ayyappanum Koshiyum (Malayalam); Supporting Actor: Biju Menon

: Sivaranjaniyum Innum Sila Pengallum (Tamil); Supporting Actress: Lakshmi Priya Chandramouli

: Sumi (Marathi); Producer: Harshall Kamat Entertainment; Director: Amol Vasant Gole

Taledanda (Beheading a Life) (Kannada) Producer: Krupanidhi Kreations; Director: Praveen Krupakar

(Themes such as prohibition, women and child empowerment, social evils like dowry, drug abuse, empowerment of differently-abled people, tribal and indigenous people etc.): Funeral (Marathi); Producer: Before After Entertainment; Director: Vivek Dubey

Tanhaji: The Unsung Warrior (Hindi); Producer: Ajay Devgn FFilms; Director: Om Raut

: Mandela (Tamil) ; Producer: YNOT Studios; Director: Madonne Ashwin

Soorarai Pottru (Tamil)

Avijatrik (The Wanderlust of Apu) (Bengali); Cameraman: Supratim Bhol

AK Ayyappanum Koshiyum (Malayalam); Singer: Nanchamma

Mi Vasantrao (I Am Vasantrao) (Marathi); Singer: Rahul Deshpande

Ala Vaikunthapuramuloo

Anish Mangesh Gosavi; Sumi (Marathi); Child Artist: Akanksha Pingle & Divyesh Indulkar

Toolsidar Junior

Avijatrik

Engagement on Monday (English translation)

Sivaranjiniyum Innum Sila Pengalum

Colour Photo

Dollu

Tale of a Paithani (translation)

Bridge

Natyam

( With inputs from ANI )