Sridevi

Doffing its hat to mainstream stars, the late Vinod Khanna and Sridevi, the 65th National Film Awards recognised their contribution to Indian cinema by honouring them posthumously with the Dadasaheb Phalke and Best Actress Award nods respectively.

Announcing Sridevi's name, feature film jury head, Shekhar Kapur — who directed her in Mr India (1987) — said the actor was the most deserving candidate. She was recognised for her role of an angry mother seeking justice for her daughter in the rape revenge drama, Mom (2017). "It [the title] was not because of the relationship we shared, but because she was the most deserving candidate for her portrayal in Mom," Kapur said.

The jury recognised the diversity in Indian cinema by distributing accolades to films belonging to different regional languages. Rima Das' Assamese film, Village Rockstars, about the music aspirations of a village girl, was named the Best Feature Film, besides scoring awards for the Best Location Sound Recordist, Editing and Best Child Artiste (Bhanita Das).

The 10-member jury panel headed by Kapur, comprised the likes of Kannada director P Sheshadri, screenwriter Imtiaz Hussain, actor Gautami Tadimalla and lyricist Mehboob, among others. The Awards are administered by the government's Directorate of Film Festivals.  

While Baahubali: The Conclusion bagged the Best Action, Best VFX and Best Telugu Film nods, India's official entry to Oscars, Newton, though having failed to bag a nomination at the Academy, emerged as the Best Hindi Film here. A special mention went to its actor Pankaj Tripathi for his portrayal of a cynical CRPF officer, Atma Singh. Kapur called Tripathi's portrayal one of the film. Oscar-winning music composer A R Rahman swept the Best Music Direction category by winning the Best Songs for the Tamil Film, Kaatru Veliyidai.