The Hindu : It is 'Lagaan' all the way

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Friday, Feb 14, 2003

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It is 'Lagaan' all the way

By Anita Joshua

The President, A.P.J. Abdul Kalam, presenting the 49th National Film Awards in New Delhi on Thursday. From left: Yash Chopra (Dada Saheb Phalke Award), Aamir Khan for `Lagaan' (Best Popular Film Providing Wholesome Entertainment Award), Murali (Best Actor) and Revathy who directed `Mitr — My Friend' (Best Feature Film in English) — Photos: Rajeev Bhatt

NEW DELHI FEB. 13. Entertainment was the theme that reigned supreme at the 49th National Film Awards function here this evening with a lion's share of the awards, including the top-of-the-line Dada Saheb Phalke Award, going to this genre of film-making, and the Union Minister of State for Information & Broadcasting, Ravi Shankar Prasad, giving a call for turning the ongoing decade into a `Decade of Entertainment'.

And, this was topped with the President, A. P. J. Abdul Kalam, urging the galaxy of artistes and film-makers to continue using their stories and smiles to ease the pain and angst of the masses.

Earlier, Bollywood's reigning dream merchant of several decades, Yash Chopra, received a standing ovation as he was awarded the Phalke Award by the President for his outstanding contribution to Indian cinema.

Though the Phalke Award was the last to be given away, Mr. Chopra in a way led the charge, in an evening that belonged to Bollywood, with `Lagaan' bagging eight awards, `Chandni Bar' four and `Dil Chahta Hai' two. But, with the South Indian presence among the awards being particularly strong this time round, the leading lights of Bollywood — Aamir Khan and Tabu — had a fair challenge from their southern counterparts.

While Girish Kasaravalli bagged his fourth Swarna Kamal for the Kannada film `Dweepa', the Malayalam cine star, Murali, was adjudged the `Best Actor' for his role in `Neythukaran'.

Tabu and Shobana shared the `Best Actress' award for their roles in `Chandni Bar' and `Mitr — My Friend' respectively while Aamir Khan made more than one trip to the dais to collect several of the clutch of awards that came the way of `Lagaan', which was also billed as the `Best Popular Film Providing Wholesome Entertainment'.

The Minister of State for External Affairs, Vinod Khanna, with Shobana and Tabu, joint winners of the Best Actress Award, at the National Film Awards function in New Delhi on Thursday. — PTI

Bollywood and South Indian films, in fact, made a near clean sweep of the 27 awards that were up for the grabs in the feature film section.

In comparison, the non-feature film award list was slightly more representative linguistically.

However, in both sections, there were a sizeable number of categories in which no awards were given because the entries did not make the mark. Always a showstopper, the Best Child Artiste awardee this year drew extra mileage from the evident affection that Mr. Kalam has for children.

Not only did P. Shwetha walk away from Mr. Kalam with the Rajat Kamal and a cash prize of Rs. 10,000 that goes with the award for her role in the Tamil film `Kutty', but she also returned with his autograph.

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