Bollywood: Ajay Devgn wins Best Actor National Award, Suriya shares honour

The winners of the 68th National Film Awards were announced on Friday, and Bollywood actor Ajay Devgn's film Tanhaji: The Unsung Warrior received the National Award for the Best Popular Film Providing Wholesome Entertainment.

Directed by Om Raut, the film featured Ajay Devgn, Saif Ali Khan, and Kajol in the lead roles and gathered positive feedback from the audience.

Released in the year 2020, Tanhaji: The Unsung Warrior collected over Rs 368 crore worldwide at the box office and was declared the highest grosser of the year.

Apart from that, Ajay Devgn also received the Best Actor Award for his performance in Tanhaji: The Unsung Warrior.

This marks the Golmaal' actor's third National award after Zakhm in 1998 and The Legend of Bhagat Singh in 2020.

The actor shared the Best Actor award with south superstar Suriya, who received the same award for his performance in the film Soorarai Pottru, which bagged multiple awards.

A 10-member jury led by director-producer Vipul Shah met Union Information and Broadcasting Minister Anurag Thakur on Friday morning to submit its report on the 68th National Film Awards.

This year, there are 50 categories with over 300 feature films and 150 non-feature films competing for the prizes. There are 30 different languages in the movies.

Apart from chairperson Shah, the jury members included cinematographer Dharam Gulati, National award-winning Bengali actor Sreelekha Mukherjee, cinematographer GS Bhaskar, A Karthikraaja, VN Aditya, Viji Thampi, Sanjeev Rattan, S Thangadurai and Nishigandha.

Producer-director Vipul Shah told ANI, "It has been heartening to see the kind of response that was received and the number of films that we got to see. And these were very difficult COVID times during which these films were either made or being made."

Chitrartha Singh who headed the non-feature jury stated, "We have been able to review close to 140 non-feature films including documentaries and it is amazing to see the kind of content that has come forth, especially from areas like the north-east."

Here are some of the winners:

• India