The honorable President of India, Pratibha Patil will give away the "54th National Film Awards 2006'' on the 2nd of September in a function to be held at Vigyan Bhavan, New Delhi. The prestigious Dada Saheb Phalke Award will be conferred on veteran filmmaker Tapan Sinha during the awards function.

Bengali film star Soumitra Chatterjee will receive the Best Actor award while Priyamani will be conferred with the Best Actress Award for her performance in Ameer Sultan's Tamil film 'Paruthiveeran'. The best director award goes to Madhur Bhandarkar for Traffic Signal.

Malayalam film Pulijanmam, directed by Priyanandan, will receive the award for the best feature film.

Malayalees who will receive honors at the ceremony are Madhu Kaithapram and Thilakan for ''Ekaantham'', Kamal for ''Karutha Pakshykal'', Madhu and Sajeev Samudra (choreographers) for "Raathry Mazha'', M. P. Sukumaran Nair for "Drishraantham'', and M R Rajan and Nedumudi Venu for '' Minukku''

The National Film Award winners of the year were decided by a jury of three headed by Buddhadeb Dasgupta, K. Bikram Singh and Ms. Madhu Jain. The Awards nominations and announcements for 2006 were delayed owing to a legal issue involving allegations of partiality. The Supreme Court later gave a verdict in the matter in favor of the government.