In a star-studded ceremony at Vigyan Bhawan, President Droupadi Murmu conferred the 71st National Film Awards, honoring some of the biggest names in Indian cinema.
The highest cinematic honor, the Dadasaheb Phalke Award, was presented to Malayalam superstar Mohanlal for his remarkable career spanning over four decades.
The night’s biggest winners included Shah Rukh Khan and Vikrant Massey, who shared the Best Actor award for their performances in ‘Jawan’ and ’12th Fail’, respectively.
Tamil cinema’s presence was strongly felt, with the film ‘Parking’ emerging as a major winner. Adding to the film’s accolades, actor M.S. Bhaskar received the Best Supporting Actor award for his nuanced performance in the movie, sharing the honor with Vijayaraghavan for the Malayalam film ‘Pookkalam’.
The director of ‘Parking’, Ramkumar Balakrishnan, was also recognized with the award for Best Screenplay.
In the music category, composer G. V. Prakash Kumar secured the award for Best Music Direction for the songs in the Dhanush-starrer ‘Vaathi’.