The 57th National Awards were presented to the respective winners from the various categories by President Prathiba Patil in New Delhi yesterday.

Amitabh Bachchan was presented his Best Actor Award for his performance in ‘Paa’ while Music Director of ‘Paa’, Maestro Ilayaraja received the Best Background Score for his stellar music in Malayalam Blockbuster ‘Pazhassi Raja’.

Big B 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.

Movie Moghul Ramanaidu received the coveted Dada Saheb Phalke Award for his immeasurable contribution to Indian cinema. He has the world record of producing the most number of movies in a career spanning four decades.

Coming to Best Music Direction, Amit Trivedi received the award for his composition in the critically acclaimed Dev D.

The Best Popular Movie was presented to ‘Three Idiots’ but the Best Feature Film went to Malayalam flick ‘Kutty Shrank’ starring Mammootty. The movie also won the Best Cinematography, Best Screenplay, Best Costumes, etc.

Sanjay Puran Singh Chauhan was honoured with a ‘Swarna Kamal’ and a cash prize of Rs 1, 25,000/- and Producer Mr Vivek Khatkar of Sai Om Films was also honoured with the same for their movie Lahore. Actor Farooq Shekh also received Best Supporting Actor award for the same movie. Sanjay also received the Indira Gandhi Award for Best Debut film of a Director.

Other awards for other languages were also presented. Also present on the occasion were The Union Minister for Information and Broadcasting, Smt. Ambika Soni and the Ministers of State for Information and Broadcasting, Shri Choudhury Mohan Jatua and Dr. S. Jagathrakshakan.