This year's big winners - Alia Bhatt, Allu Arjun and Kriti Sanon.
The 69th National Film Awards were announced at a press conference in New Delhi today. The winners list was fairly Hindi film-heavy with RRR also featuring prominently. Alia Bhatt and Kriti Sanon share the Best Actress award for their performances in Gangubai Kathiawadi and Mimi. Allu Arjun was named Best Actor for the blockbuster Pushpa: The Rise. It is the first National Award for all three actors. Rocketry: The Nambi Effect was awarded Best Film. Kriti's Mimi co-star Pankaj Tripathi won Best Supporting Actor and Pallavi Joshi won Best Supporting Actress for her role in The Kashmir Files which also won Best Film on National Integration. Both Pankaj Tripathi and Pallavi Joshi have won special awards before.
RRR won a slew of awards including Best Popular Film. It shared the Best Music prize and Kaala Bhairava won Best Male Playback Singer for Naatu Naatu; Shreya Ghoshal won Best Female Playback Singer. Gangubai Kathiawadi and Sardar Udham, which was named Best Hindi Film, also won several awards - Gangubai Kathiawadi won Best Screenplay, among other honours. Shershaah received a Special Jury award.
The feature film awardees were announced by jury head filmmaker Ketan Mehta.
The Dadasaheb Phalke Award, India's highest film honour, will be announced later.
The National Awards will be handed out by President Droupadi Murmu in a ceremony later in the year. Last year's winners included Suriya and Ajay Devgn who shared the Best Actor prize for their roles in Soorarai Pottru and Tanhaji: The Unsung Warrior. Suriya's co-star Aparna Balamurali.