Dabangg Wins National Award for Wholesome Entertainment

New Delhi: Salman Khan's Dabangg, directed by newcomer Abhinav Kashyap, bagged the Wholesome Entertainer award of 2010 at the 58th National Awards announced in New Delhi today.

While Tamil movie Aadukalam was named in six top categories, Malayalam film Adaminte Makan Abu picked up four honours. Marathi films also put up a great show.

Among Tamil films, Aadukalam walked away with the maximum trophies, including Best Director award for Vetrimaran; Best Actor for Dhaush; Best Original Screenplay for Vetrimaran; Best Editing for T.E. Kishore; Best Choreography for Dinesh Kumar; and special mention for V.I.S. Jayaraman.

In total, Tamil movies got 14 awards, including Best Actress for Saranya Ponvannan for Thenmerkku Paruvakkatru, which also got Vairamuthu the Best Lyricist award and was named the Best Tamil film.

V. Srinivas M. Mohan got the Best Special Effects award for Endhiran, while Sabu Cyril got the Best Production Design award for the Rajnikanth starrer blockbuster.

J. Thambi Ramaiah was named Best Supporting Actor for Mynaa and Sukumari won the Best Supporting Actress award for Namma Gramam, while Best Costume Designer award went to Indrans Jayan for Namma Gramam.

Malayalam films got six national awards and Adaminte Makan Abu topped the list. It was named Best Feature Film, Salim Kumar got the Best Actor award, Madhu Ambat picked up the Best Cinematography trophy and Issak Thomas Kottakapally got the Best Music Director award.

Starring Zarina Wahab and Salim Kumar, Adaminte Makan Abu is a touching tale of the efforts made by an elderly Muslim couple to go on the much cherished Haj, while Aadukalam is set in the backdrop of a town where cockfights are common.

Sound designer Subhadeep Sengupta won the Best Audiography award for Malayalam film Chitrasutram, while Veettilekkulla Vazhil was named the Best Malayalam movie.

As many as nine awards were given to Marathi movies. Among them, Mee Sidhutai Sapkal, an inspiring, true-life story of a Maharashtrian woman's fight against social ills, and Baboo Band Baaja about a tug-of-war between fate and hope, got three awards each in various categories.

Mee Sidhutai Sapkal won the Special Jury award, Best Male Playback Singer for Suresh Wadkar and Best Screenpaly (adapted) for Anant Mahadevan and Sanjay Pawar.

Rajesh Pinjani-helmed Baboo Band Baaja picked up the Indira Gandhi award for Best Debut film of a director. Mitalee Jagtap Varadkar was named the Best Actress and Vivek Chabukswar the Best Child Artist for the movie.

Ohter winners include Champions, which was named Best Film on social issues. The film also got Shantanu Ranganekar and Machindra Gadkar the Best Child Artist awards.

Mala Aai Vhhaychay walked away with Best Marathi film trophy.

There were three awards for Kannada movies - Best Film on Environment Conservation and Preservation for Bettada Jeeva; Best Children's Film for Hejjegalu; and Best Kannada Film for Puttakkana Highway.

The year 2010 was not so good for the Hindi film industry and this was reflected at the national awards' annoucement. While most of top awards were swept by the southern movies, Arbaaz Khan's debut production venture Dabangg starring Salman Khan got the national award for Best Wholesome Entertainment and Rishi Kapoor-Neetu Singh's middle-class family drama Do Dooni Chaar was named Best Hindi Feature Film.

Vishal Bhardwaj's rural drama Ishqiya won four awards, including that of Best Music and Best Female Playback Singer for the producer's wife, Rekha Bhardwaj.

Ishqiya was also cited for Best Location Sound Recordist ( Kamod Karade) and Best Re-recordist of the final mixed track (Debajit Changmai).

Bengali films, too, didn't put up a great show with just three awards -- the Nargis Dutt award for Best Feature Film on national integration for Moner Manush; Best Make-Up Artist for Vikram Gaikwad for the same film and Best Bengali Film award for Ami Aadu.

FEATURE FILMS:

BEST FEATURE FILM:
Adaminte Makan Abu (Malayalam)
Producer: Salim Ahamed
Director : Salim Ahamed

INDIRA GANDHI AWARD FOR BEST DEBUT FILM OF A DIRECTOR
Baboo Band Baaja (Marathi)
Producer: Nita Jadhav
Director : Rajesh Pinjani

AWARD FOR BEST POPULAR FILM PROVIDING WHOLESOME ENTERTAINMENT
Dabangg (Hindi)
Producer: Arbaaz Khan, Malaika Arora Khan & Dhilin Mehta
Director : Abhinav Singh Kashyap

NARGIS DUTT AWARD FOR BEST FEATURE FILM ON NATIONAL INTEGRATION
Moner Manush (Bengali)
Producer: Gautam Kundu
Director : Goutam Ghose

BEST FILM ON SOCIAL ISSUES
Champions (Marathi)
Producer: Aishwarya Narkar
Director : Ramesh More

BEST FILM ON ENVIRONMENT CONSERVATION/PRESERVATION
Bettada Jeeva (Kannada)
Producer: Basantkumar Patil
Director : P. Sheshadri

BEST CHILDREN'S FILM
Hejjegalu (Kannada)
Producer: Basantkumar Patil
Director : P.R. Ramadas Naidu

BEST DIRECTION
Vetrimaran, Aadukalam (Tamil)
BEST ACTOR
Dhanush, Aadukalam (Tamil) / Salim Kumar, Adaminte Makan Abu (Malayalam)

BEST ACTRESS
Mitalee Jagtap Varadkar, Baboo Band Baaja (Marathi) / Saranya Ponvannan, Thenmerkku Paruvakkatru (Tamil)

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR
J. Thambi Ramaiah, Mynaa (Tamil)

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS
Sukumari, Namma Gramam (Tamil)

BEST CHILD ARTIST
Harsh Mayar, I am Kalam (Hindi) / Shantanu Ranganekar and Machindra Gadkar, Champions (Marathi) / Vivek Chabukswar, Baboo Band Baaja (Marathi)

BEST MALE PLAYBACK SINGER
Suresh Wadkar, Mee Sindhutai Sapkal (Marathi)

BEST FEMALE PLAYBACK SINGER
Rekha Bhardwaj, Ishqiya (Hindi)

BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY
Madhu Ambat, Adaminte Makan Abu (Malayalam)

BEST SCREENPLAY
Original: Vetrimaran, Aadukalam (Tamil) / Adapted: Anant Mahadevan & Sanjay Pawar, Mee Sindhutai Sapkal (Marathi) / Dialogues: Sanjay Pawar, Mee Sindhutai Sapkal (Marathi)

BEST AUDIOGRAPHY
Location Sound Recordist: Kaamod Kharade, Ishqiya (Hindi) / Sound Designer: Subhadeep Sengupta, Chitrasutram (Malayalam) / Re-recordist: Debajit Changmai, Ishqiya (Hindi)

BEST EDITING
T.E. Kishore, Aadukalam (Tamil)

BEST PRODUCTION DESIGN
Sabu Cyril, Endhiran (Tamil)

BEST COSTUME DESIGNER
Indrans Jayan, Namma Gramam (Tamil)

BEST MAKE-UP ARTIST
Vikram Gaikwad, Moner Manush (Bengali)

BEST MUSIC DIRECTION
Music Director (Songs): Vishal Bhardwaj, Ishqiya (Hindi) / Music Director (Background Score): Issak Thomas Kottakapally, Adaminte Makan Abu (Malayalam)

BEST LYRICS
Vairamuthu, Thenmerkku Paruvakkatru (Tamil)

SPECIAL JURY AWARD
Mee Sindhutai Sapkal (Marathi)
Producer: Bindiya & Sachin Khanolkar
Director : Anant Narayan Mahadevan

BEST SPECIAL EFFECTS
V. Srinivas M Mohan, Enthiran (Tamil)

BEST CHOREOGRAPHY
Dinesh Kumar, Aadukalam (Tamil)

BEST ASSAMESE FILM
Jetuka Patar Dare
Producer: Md. Noorul Sultan
Director : Jadumoni Dutta

BEST BENGALI FILM
Ami Aadu
Producer: New Theatres Pvt. Ltd
Director : Sonmath Gupta

BEST HINDI FILM
Do Dooni Char
Producer: Arindam Chaudhuri
Director: Habib Faisal

BEST KANNADA
Puttakkana Highway
Producer: Shylaja Nag & Prakash Raj
Director: B. Suresha

BEST MALAYALAM FILM
Veettilekkulla Vazhi
Producer: B.C. Joshi
Director : Dr Biju

BEST MARATHI FILM
Mala Aai Vhhaychay
Producer: Samruddhi Porey
Director : Samruddhi Porey

BEST TAMIL FILM
Thenmerkku Paruvakkatru
Producer: Shibu Isaac
Director : Seenu Ramasamy

BEST ENGLISH FILM
Memories in March
Producer: Shrikant Mohta
Director : Sanjoy Nag

SPECIAL MENTION
Bettada Jeeva (Kannada)
Aadukalam (Tamil)

NON- FEATURE FILMS:

BEST NON-FEATURE FILM
Germ (Hindi)
Producer: Satyajit Ray Film & Television Institute, Kolkata
Director: Snehal R. Nair

BEST DEBUT NON-FEATURE FILM OF A DIRECTOR
Pistulya (Marathi & Telugu)
Producer: Nagraj Manjule
Director: Nagraj Manjule

BEST ETHNOGRAPHIC FILM
Songs of Mashangva (Tangkhul, Manipuri & English)
Producer: Oinam Doren
Director: Oinam Doren

BEST BIOGRAPHICAL FILM
Nilamadhaba (English)
Producer: Films Division
Director: Dilip Patnaik

BEST ARTS and CULTURE FILM
Leaving Home (English & Hindi)
Producer: Jaideep Varma
Director: Jaideep Varma

BEST SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY FILM
Heart to Heart (Manipuri & English)
Producer: Rotary Club of Imphal
Director: Bachaspatimayum Sunzu

BEST PROMOTIONAL FILM
Ek Ropa Dhan (Hindi)
Producer: Meghnath Bhattacharjee
Director: Biju Toppo and Meghnath Bhattacharjee

BEST ENVIRONMENT FILM
Iron is Hot (English)
Producer: Meghnath Bhattacharjee
Director: Biju Toppo and Meghnath Bhattacharjee

BEST FILM ON SOCIAL ISSUES
Understanding Trafficking (Bengali, Hindi & English)
Producer: Cinemawoman
Director: Ananya Chakraborti

BEST EDUCATIONAL FILM
Advaitham (Telugu)
Producer: K. Vijaypal Reddy
Director: Pradeep Maadugula

BEST FILM ON SPORTS
Boxing Ladies (Hindi)
Producer: Satyajit Ray Film & Television Institute, Kolkata
Director: Anusha Nandakumar

BEST INVESTIGATIVE FILM
A Pestering Journey (Malayalam, Punjabi, Hindi, English & Tulu)
Producer: Ranjini Krishnan
Director: K. R. Manoj

SPECIAL JURY AWARD
Kabira Khada Bazaar Mein (Hindi)
Producer: Srishti School of Art, Design & Technology, Bangalore
Director: Shabnam Virmani

SHORT FICTION FILM
Kal 15 August Dukan Band Rahegi (Hindi)
Producer: Film & Television Institute of India, Pune
Director: Prateek Vats

BEST FILM ON FAMILY VALUES
Love in India (Bengali & English)
Producer: Overdose
Director: Kaushik Mukherjee

BEST DIRECTION
Shyam Raat Seher (Hindi & Engish)
Director: Arunima Sharma

BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY
Shyam Raat Seher (Hindi & English)
Cameraman: Murali G.

BEST AUDIOGRAPHY
A Pestering Journey (Malayalam, Punjabi, Hindi English & Tulu)
Re-recordist (final mixed track): Harikumar Madhavan Nair

BEST EDITING
Germ (Hindi)
Editor : Tinni Mitra

BEST NARRATION (for Writing the Narration)
Johar: Welcome to Our World (Hindi & English)
Nilanjan Bhattacharya

SPECIAL MENTION
Ottayal (One Woman Alone) ( Malayalam)
The Zeliangrongs (Manipuri & English)
Pistulya (Marathi & Telugu)

BEST WRITING ON CINEMA:

BEST BOOK ON CINEMA
From Rajahs and Yogis to Gandhi and Beyond: Images of India in International Films of the Twentieth
Century (English)
Publisher : Seagull Books
Author: Vijaya Mulay

SPECIAL MENTION
Cinema Bhojpuri (English)
Publisher : Penguin Books India Ltd
Author : Avijit Ghosh

Thiraicheelai (Tamil)
Publisher : Trisakti Sundar Raman
Author : Oviyar Jeeva

BEST FILM CRITIC
Joshy Joseph (English)
N. Manu Chakravarthy (Kannada & English)