D Ramanaidu conferred Dada Saheb Phalke Award

President Pratibha Patil on Friday conferred the Dada Saheb Phalke award-2009 with Veteran Film producer D Ramanaidu for rendering outstanding contribution to the world of Indian cinema during the 57th National Film Awards function at Rashtrapathi Bhavan.

The 64-year-old Movie Moghul has so far produced 130 films in a dozen languages over a career spanning five decades.

Apart from Telugu films, he has the distinction of producing movies in Hindi, Bengali, Oriya, Assamese, Malayalam, Tamil, Kannada, Gujarati, Marathi and Bhojpuri. His name was also entered into the Guinness Book of Records.

Presenting the awards, President Patil said cinema was a very potent medium for conveying a message and became an important factor in influencing social norms. She called upon film personalities to consider themselves as social leaders and strike a balance between entertainment and social relevance.

The President stated that films continued to generate interest and attract talent as digital technology provided an opportunity for young and budding filmmakers to experiment with the medium.

She also called upon young film makers to keep in mind the content of the film they were producing. This would enable them to take their work to a wider audience, Ms Patil said.  

Superstar Amitabh Bachchan and a host of Bollywood and regional cinema achievers were honoured by President Pratibha Patil.

Except veteran musician Illyaraja, who bagged the award for his background score in 'Pazhassi Raja', and Ranjan Palit, who has been awarded for the best voiceover, all other winners were present.

While Mr Bachchan received the best actor award for his performance in 'Paa', Aamir Khan-starrer '3 Idiots' got the award for the best popular movie.

But it was Malayalam drama 'Kutty Srank' which walked away with five awards, including the best feature film.

"Kutty Srank", with Mammootty in the lead, also won awards for best cinematography, best screenplay, best costume and a special jury recognition which it shared with Bollywood hit "Kaminey" and Malayalam film "Kerala Varma Pazhassi Raja".

While producer Reliance Big Picture and director Shaji N Karun of "Kutty Srank" received Swarna Kamal and Rs 2.5 lakh each, the producer and director of "3 Idiots" -- Vidhu Vinod Chopra and Raj Kumar Hirani got Swarna Kamal and Rs two lakh each.

Bachchan got a standing ovation when he received the Rajat Kamal and Rs 50,000 from the President. His wife Jaya, son Abhishek Bachchan and daughter-in-law Aishwarya Rai were present at the function when the actor received his fourth national award.

He had earlier won national awards for his performances in 'Black' (2005, best actor), 'Agnipath' (1990, best actor) and 'Saat Hindustani' (1969, best newcomer).

Raykesh Omprakash Mehra's "Delhi 6", shot in the bylanes of Old Delhi, bagged the Nargis Dutt award for best feature film on national integration while Shyam Benegal's "Well Done Abba" was chosen as the best movie on social issues.

R Balki's "Paa" also got the best Hindi film, besides winning recognition in the best supporting actress category (Arundhuti Nag) and best make-up (Christein Tinsley and Dominie Till).

Amit Trivedi got the best music director award for Anurag Kashyap's "Dev-D", a modern take on Sarat Chandra Chattopadhyay's classic "Devdas".

The emotional number 'Behti hawa sa tha woh' from "3 Idiots" bagged the best lyrics award for Swanand Kirkere.

The best children's film award was shared by "Putaani Party" in Kannada and "Keshu" in Malayalam. Jeeva and Anba Karaus shared the best child actor award.

Minister of Information & Broadcasting Ambika Soni stated in her speech that the I&B ministry would utilize this platform to showcase India’s cinematic brilliance across the country as well as globally.

As part of the centenary celebration plans, Ms Soni said that it was her endeavour to complete three institutional mechanisms to mark the occasion. These include the Museum of Indian Cinema in Mumbai, the National Centre of Excellence for Animation, Gaming and Visual Effects in Pune and the National Archival Heritage Mission to cover country’s rich archival wealth, by 2013. The National Archival Heritage Mission would not only safeguard the rich archival wealth, it would also ensure accessibility to the people in digital format.