Prez Pratibha to present National Film Awards on Tuesday

New Delhi, Aug 31 (UNI) The 54th National Film Awards will be presented to the winners by President Pratibha Devisingh Patil here on September 2.

Eminent film director Tapan Sinha would receive the Dada Saheb Phalke Award for the year 2006.

The award, which is given by the Government for outstanding contribution in the field of Indian Cinema, carries a cash price of Rs 10 lakh, a Swaran Kamal and a shawl.

Tapan Sinha's work has won 19 National Film Awards in various categories apart from laurels in international film festivals.

One time Lifetime Achievement Awards would be presented to thespian Dilip Kumar, melody queen Lata Mangeshkar and veteran actress Saroja Devi. Each of the award carries a cash prize of Rs 10 lakh, a citation and a shawl.

Awards would be presented in 31 different categories in the Feature Film Section and 22 categories in the Non-Feature Film Section. Three awards would be given for the Best Writing on Cinema.

Some of the major awards to be presented are as under: The Best Feature Film Award for the year 2006 would be given to the Malayalam film ''Pulijanmam.'' The Award carries a Swarna Kamal and Rs 2,50,000 each for the producer and director of the film.

A Swarna Kamal and cash prize of Rs 2,00,000 each for the producer and the director for 'Best Popular Film providing wholesale entertainment' would be given to Hindi film 'Lage Raho Munna Bhai'.

Nargis Dutt Award for the Best Feature Film on National Integration would be presented for Kannada film 'Kallarli Huvagi'.

The award carries Rajat Kamal and cash prize of Rs 1,50,000 each for the producer and director of the film.

The Indira Gandhi Award for the Best First Film of a Director would be shared by 'Eakantham' (Malayalam) directed by Madhu Kaithapuram and 'Kabul Express' (Hindi) directed by Kabir Khan.

The award for the best film on social issues would be given to the Telugu film, 'Hope'.

Mr Madhur Bhandarker would receive the Award for the Best direction for the film 'Traffic Signal' (Hindi) for weaving in the lives, livelihoods and concerns of the street dwellers in a metro and the inspiring stand that makes the protagonist a role model across society.

Best Actor Award would be given to Soumitra Chatterjee for his role in 'Podokkhep' (Bengali) for etching the agonies and elations of an elderly person trying to keep peace with changing times while the Award for Best Actress would be received by Priyamani for her role in Tamil film 'Paruthi Veeran'.

The award for the Best Child Artist would be given to Divya Chahadkar for her role in Konkani film 'Antarnad'.

Gurdas Mann would receive the Award for the Best Male Playback Singer and Aarti Anklekar Tikekar would get the Best Female Playback singer award.

The Special Jury Award would be given to director Vishal Bhardwaj for Omkara (Hindi) for an outstanding film that synergises international treatment with an earthly rooted sensibility.

The award for the best book on cinema would be presented to Jerry Pinto for his book 'Helen: The Life and Times of an H Bomb' for an insightful and witty account of a marginal yet iconic persona of the Hindi cinema.

The award for the best film critic would be received jointly by G P Ramachandran (Malayalam) and Rafique A R Baghdadi (English).

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