A big blow for Rani Mukerjee!

Santa Banta

The 53rd National Film Awards, finally ended after a three-week-long exercise conducted by a 12-member feature films jury and a six-member non-features panel, and the results are delivered to the Information and Broadcasting Ministry.

But the names of the winners cannot be formally made public as the legal grey areas are still to be negotiated.

The member of the feature and non-feature juries was headed by veteran south Indian actress B Saroja Devi and television personality Siddharth Kak respectively.

While the award winners are still to be announced, unofficial reports confirm that Amitabh Bachchan has won, what will be his second (previously Agneepath, 1990) Best Actor National Award for his universally saluted performance in “Black” defeating Kerela superstar Mohanlal and our very own Anupam Kher by a meager margin, while the same film got the coveted Best Hindi Feature Film.

After a huge debate over the decision for the Best Actress Award, Sarika is adjudged Best Actress in ‘Parzania’ for her performance as a Parsi mother searching for her son missing since the Gujarat riots of 2002. This was the year’s major upset as Rani Mukherjee appeared to be a sure shot winner for her scintillating performance of a blind, deaf and mute girl in ‘Black’.

Naseeruddin Shah has been adjudged the Best Supporting Actor for his widely applauded performance of a star cricketer fallen on lean days in ‘Iqbal’.

A Special Jury Award has been given to Anupam Kher for his sensitive portrayal in ‘Maine Gandhi Ko Nahin Maara’ of an old man psychologically ravaged by the loss of ideals around him.

Aparna Sen’s ‘15 Park Avenue’ bagged the Best English language National Film Award.

US-based filmmaker Rahul Dholakia got his first Best Director Award for the film ‘Parzania’, while ‘Kalpurush’ is awarded the Best Film.