Renowned personalities and overwhelming moments… The 56th National Film Awards (2008) which unfolded at Vigyan Bhawan on Friday witnessed the honouring of several celebrities of tinsel town by President Pratibha Devisingh Patil.

It was Bollywood all the way; with most of the trophies coming in its side. Priyanka Chopra became emotional when she bagged the Best Actress award for her role in Madhur Bhandarkar’s ‘Fashion’. “It has still not sunk in,” had stated the actress in a haze. While Kangana Ranuat after receiving the Best Supporting Actor (Female) remarked happily, “At 22 receiving this award is a great achievement.”

Arjun Rampal had been there to receive the Best Supporting Actor for ‘Rock On’. The film had also won the Best Hindi Film. The film’s director Farhan Akhtar, producers Abhishek Kapoor and Ritesh Sidhwani were all there for the event.

Dibakar Banerjee’s ‘Oye Lucky! Lucky Oye!’ got a Swarna Kamal for being the best popular film while Neeraj Pandey and Ronnie Screwwala of UTV Motion Pictures won the trophy as part of the Indira Gandhi Award for best first film, for A Wednesday (Hindi).

The Best Child Artist Award went to Master Shams Patel for his role in ‘Thanks Maa’.

Upendra Limaye took home the Best Actor award for ‘Jogva’ (Marathi) while Bala bagged the award for Best Direction for ‘Naan Kadavul’ (Tamil).

A special, standing ovation was given to cinematographer VK Murthy when he was felicitated with the Dada Saheb Phalke Award. After receiving the award, the humble personality said, “I’d like to thanks everyone I have ever worked with for this award as it is not my contribution alone that made this possible.”

In the Best Singer’s category, Hariharan (for Jogva) and Shreya Ghoshal (for Jogva & Antaheen) won the awards.