Bengal sweeps Indian film awards

In a record of sorts, actress-director Aparna Sen and her daughter Konkona SenSharma bagged the awards for best director and best actress respectively for the feature film "Mr and Mrs Iyer", a love story in the midst of communal violence, directed by the mother.

This is the first time that mother and daughter duo bagged the top national film awards in the same year.

"Mr and Mrs Iyear" also got the award for the best screenplay as well as the award, named after late actress Nargis Dutt, for the best film on national integration.

Eminent director Buddhadeb Dasgupta's "Mondo Meyer Upakhyan (The Tale of a Naughty Girl), starring actress Rituparno Sengupta, was adjudged the best feature film.

The Indira Gandhi award for best debut feature film of a director was jointly shared by two Bengali films "Patal Ghar" directed by Abhijit Chodhury and "Prohor" by Subhadra Choudhury.

In the regional language category, internationally-acclaimed director Rituparno Ghosh's "Shubho Muhurat" was declared the best Bengali feature film.

Veteran Rakhee won the best supporting actress award for her role of an "unlikely" detective in "Shubho Muhurat."

The best cinematography award went to Abhik Mukhopadhaya for the film "Patal Ghar."

The awards were announced by eminent director Prakash Jha who is the chairman of the jury for the national film awards.

Bollywood star Ajay Devgan bagged the best actor award for his lead role in the period film "The Legend of Bhagat Singh" directed by Rajkumar Santoshi. This is the second time that Devgan got the national award for best actor, the previous time being for his role in the Hindi film "Zakhm" (The Wound) directed by Mahesh Bhatt.

The news about his winning the national award for the second time reached Devgan when he was in the midst of shooting along with Amitabh Bachchan for Santoshi's next film "Khaki" in Bombay yesterday.

Bollywood's most expensive film "Devdas" directed by Sanjay Leela Bhansali got five awards including the one for best popular film providing wholesome entertainment, best costume, female playback singer, best choreography and best art direction. The movie also earned the award for its "technical finesse and its modern re-interpretation of an enduring classic" penned by Saratchandra Chattopadhaya.

A R Rahman won the award for best music director for a Mani Ratnam directed Tamil language film while Udit Narayan was declared the best male playback singer for a song in the Hindi film "Zindagi Khoobsurat Hai."

Both Aparna Sen and Konkona were elated reacting to the news of their winning the national awards. "It is very special to get an award in your own country," said the senior Sen whose "Mr and Mrs Iyer" was premiered in the Locerno International Film Festival last year and earned an award there.

"The feeling is yet to sink in," said 24-year-old Konkona, an English literature graduate from Delhi's St Stephen's College who got the national award in his third appearance in a lead role in a feature film. She had made her debut in the Bengali film "Ek Je Chilo Kanya" with Sabyasachi Chakrabarty and Debasree Roy and her second film was "Titli."