National Film Awards 2019: Ayushmann Khurrana, Vicky Kaushal, Keerthy Suresh receive top honours

On 23 December, Vice President Venkaiah Naidu distributed the 66th National Film Awards at the New Delhi's Vigyan Bhawan. Among those honoured at the event are Bollywood actors Vicky Kaushal and Ayushmann Khurrana, who shared the Best Actor Award for their films Uri: The Surgical Strike and Andhadhun, respectively.

Megastar Amitabh Bachchan, who was supposed to receive the Dadasaheb Phalke Award at the ceremony, skipped the event citing ill health. The 77-year-old actor will now be honoured by President Ram Nath Kovind on 29 December at a high-tea, to be hosted at Rashtrapati Bhavan for all the winners.

Naidu said he was happy that films which were recognised at the 66th edition of National Film Awards broke stereotypes and attacked superstitions.

"The feature films this year are as much about emotions as they are about intelligence... In the banquet of films, we have films that break stereotypes and attack superstitions sensitively. We see through the makers' imagination the orthodox traditions giving way to modern solutions," Naidu said during the ceremony.

He also praised non-feature films for dealing with a wide range of subjects such as female infanticide, human trafficking and adoption.

Hellaro, a Gujarati film on women empowerment in a patriarchal society, won the best feature film honour. Keerthy, the winner of best actress award for her portrayal of yesteryear Telugu star Savitri in bilingual biopic Mahanati, was elated to get recognised for the film.

Filmmaker Sanjay Leela Bhansali won the award for best music direction (songs) for his magnum opus Padmaavat.

Check out all the winners here

Aditya Dhar picking his award for Best Director (Uri: The Surgical Strike)

Neena Gupta congratulated her Badhaai co-star, Surekha Sikri for winning the National Film Award for Best Supporting Actress for the film. Surekha had played Neena’s mother-in-law in the film.

(With inputs from Press Trust of India)