56th National Film Awards

Cinematographer V.K. Murthy became the first technician to be awarded the prestigious Dada Saheb Phalke award at the 56th National Film Awards 2008. President Pratibha Patil presented the award to Mr. Murthy, who is best known for his works in classics like Pyaasa and Kaagaz Ke Phool.


Anirudh Roy Choudhary was presented the Swarna Kamal for directing Antaheen, the best feature film, while Neeraj Pandey and Ronnie Screwwala of UTV Motion Pictures were presented the Swarna Kamal as part of the Indira Gandhi Award for best first film, for A Wednesday (Hindi).

In the best actor category, Upendra Limaye walked away with the honours for his performance in Marathi film Jogva, and Priyanka Chopra took home the best female actor award for her role in Fashion.

The film also fetched Kangana Ranaut the award for best supporting woman actor. Arjun Rampal took home a Rajat Kamal for the best supporting actor in Rock On (Hindi).

Master Shams Patel was declared the best child artist for his role in Thanks Maa (Hindi). In the best singer’s category, the winners were Hariharan for Jogva and Shreya Ghoshal for Jogva and Antaheen.

The Nargis Dutt Award for best feature film on national integration was given to Assamese film Aai Kot Nai. Little Zizou was awarded the prize for best film on family values while Jogva was selected as the best film on social issues.

Abhaya Simha received the Swarna Kamal for his directorial debut Gubbachigalu (Kannada) in the best children's film category, while Jugal Hansraj was awarded the Swarna Kamal for his film Roadside Romeo in the best animation film category. The Special jury award went to Malayalam film Bioscope.

Bala, director of the Tamil film Naan Kadavul, won the best director award while the award for best cinematography went to Avik Mukhopadhyay for Antaheen.