The Honorable President of India, Prathiba Patil would distribute the prestigious 54th National Film Awards for the year 2006 to the winners at on the 2nd of September at Vigyan Bhavan, New Delhi.

Yesteryear thespian Saroja Devi, veteran Hindi actor Dilip Kumar and Playback Singer Lata Mangeshkar get the awards for one-time-life-time achievement. The Silver Lotus award for the best actress goes to Priyamani whose awesome performance in 'Paruthi veeran' won laurels and rave reviews.

Dada Saheb Phalke award, one of the high-status awards, for the exceptional contribution to Indian Cinema, will be presented to the renowned Bengali film-maker Tapan Sinha.

In the category of best actor, Soumitra Chatterjee has been chosen the winner. It can be recalled that he had refused to take the special jury award for best actor in the year 2001 as a sign of objection against the bias and partiality of the National Film Awards Committee.

Golden Lotus awards for the best film and the most popular film providing wholesome entertainment goes to the films 'Pulijenman' and 'Lage Raho Munnabhai' respectively .

The National Film Awards nominations for 2006 was deferred by a legal case which was filed in the Court challenging the neutrality in awards being given out.