President to give away 54th national film awards today

New Delhi, Sep 2 (ANI): President Pratibha Patil will give away the 54th national film awards here this evening.

Eminent Film Director Tapan Sinha will receive the Dada Saheb Phalke award for the year 2006. The award is given by the Government of India for outstanding contribution in the field of Indian cinema.

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The award carries a cash price of Rs. ten lakhs, a swaran kamal and a shawl. Tapan's work has won 19 national film awards in various categories apart from laurels in international film festivals.

One time lifetime achievement awards will 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 lakhs, a citation and a shawl.

Awards will be presented in 31 different categories in the feature film section and 22 categories in the non-feature film section.

Three awards will be given for the best writing on cinema. Some the major awards to be presented are the best feature film award for the year 2006 will be given to the Malayalam film "Pulijanmam''. The award carries a swarna kamal and Rs 2,50,000 each for the producer and the director of the film.

Swarna kamal and cash prize of Rs 2,00,000 each for the producer and the director for best popular film providing wholesale entertainment will be given to Hindi film "Lage Raho Munna Bhai".

Nargis Dutt award for the best feature film on national Integration will be presented for Kannada film "Kallarli Huvagi". The Award carries rajat kamal and cash prize of Rs 1,50,000 each for producer and director of the film.

The Indira Gandhi award for the best first film of a director will 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 will be given to the Telugu film, "Hope". he Award for the best direction will be received by Madhur Bhandarker 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 will 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 will be received by Priyamani for her role in Tamil film "Paruthi Veeran".

The award for the best child artist will be given to Divya Chahadkar for her role in Konkani film, "Antarnad".

Gurdas Mann will receive the award for the best male playback singer and Aarti Anklekar Tikekar will get the best female playback singer award.The Special Jury award will be given to director Vishal Bhardwaj for Hindi film Omkara for an outstanding film that synergizes international treatment with an earthly rooted sensibility.

The award for the best book on cinema will 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 will be received jointly by G. P. Ramachandran (Malayalam) and Rafique A. R. Baghdadi (English). (ANI)