South Indian cinema’s favourite villain Prakash Raj on Wednesday received a National Award from President of India Pratibha Patil for Priyadarshan’s ‘Kanchivaram’.

The awardees who were present to receive the honour included director Priyadarshan, director of `Kanchivaram'(Tamil), which won the best direction award, Shankar Mahadevan, who won the best playback male singer award and Shreya Ghosal, who won the best female singer award among others. The President also awarded the Dadasaheb Phalke award to legendary singer Manna Dey. The 90-year-old singer got a standing ovation when he came onstage to receive the highest honour in Indian cinema. “I feel overwhelmed,” he told reporters later. Shankar Mahadevan and Shreya Ghoshal sang their award-winning songs. This is Ghoshal’s third award after ‘Devdas’ and ‘Paheli’. “I feel honoured. I am thankful to those who have given me such good songs,” she said.

In her address, Pratibha Patil said, "Cinema should not only be a source of popular entertainment for families and individuals, but also a vehicle of social change.'' Describing cinema as India's soft power, she said that more needed to be done to create social change through films.

“I think my highest payment in my career, which I have received, is for ‘Kanchivaram’ and that is the National Award," Prakash Raj said. The actor, who played a poor silk weaver in the film, said he was floored by the script the moment he heard it.