Vicky, Ayushmann, Surekha emerge as winners

New Delhi: Vice President Venkaiah Naidu on Monday presented the National Film Awards to this year's winners with actors Vicky Kaushal, Ayushmann Khurrana and Keerthy Suresh receiving top honours.

Megastar Amitabh Bachchan, who was supposed to receive the Dadasaheb Phalke Award at the ceremony, skipped the event citing ill health. The 77-year-old actor will now be honoured by President Ram Nath Kovind on December 29 at a high-tea, to be hosted at Rashtrapati Bhavan for all the winners.

Naidu said he was happy that films which were recognised at the 66th edition of National Film Awards broke stereotypes and attacked superstitions.

"The feature films this year are as much about emotions as they are about intelligence... In the banquet of films, we have films that break stereotypes and attack superstitions sensitively. We see through the makers' imagination the orthodox traditions giving way to modern solutions," Naidu said during the ceremony.

He also praised non-feature films for dealing with a wide range of subjects such as female infanticide, human trafficking and adoption.

Information and Broadcasting minister Prakash Javadekar called cinema the soft power of a strong country like India.

"I always believe that cinema is a soft power of a strong India. The influence of this soft power is visible when I go to other countries," he said.

Bollywood actors Ayushmann and Vicky, who won the best actor award for their work in Andhadhun and Uri: The Surgical Strike, attended the ceremony with Akshay Kumar, the co-producer and star of Pad Man.

Keerthy, the winner of best actress award for her portrayal of yesteryear Telugu star Savitri in bilingual biopic Mahanati, was elated to get recognised for the film.

"I'm happy that my effort has been appreciated. I feel blessed and honoured to receive the National Award for a film which is so close to my heart," told teh the actor.

Apart from Vicky, director of Uri..., Aditya Dhar, also won his first National Award for directing the film based on the 2016 Indian Army's surgical strikes on terror launch pads in Pakistan after Uri attack.

"It is the best feeling. Since childhood whenever I used to think about getting into films, the first thought that would come to my mind was to win the National Award one day and receiving it for my debut film is surreal," told Dhar.