New Delhi, May 19
Regional films stole the show at the 58th National Film Awards announced here today even as Salman Khan-starrer Hindi blockbuster “Dabangg” won the award for the best popular film providing wholesome entertainment.

Malayalam film “Adaminte Makan Abu”, a simple yet evocative narrative of a man’s pursuit of religion, won the best feature film award and its lead actor Salim Kumar picked up the best actor award.

The awards were announced by this year’s feature films jury headed by JP Dutta, non-feature films jury led by AK Bir and the best writing on cinema jury headed by Ashok Vajpeyi.

Bollywood was pushed to the background this year with “Dabangg” and Naseeruddin Shah-starrer “Ishqiya” being the only two films to pick up awards in prominent categories.

Singer Rekha Bhardwaj won the best female playback singer award for her sensual rendering of folk-based lilting tracks for Hindi film “Ishqiya”. The film also picked up the best audiography award.

Tamil actor Dhanush and Malayalam actor Salim Kumar shared the award for best actor. Dhanush and Salim were recognised for their work in “Aadukalam” and “Adaminde Makan Abu”, respectively.

Mitalee Jagtap Varadkar and Saranya Ponvannan picked up best actress national awards for Marathi film “Baboo Band Baaja” and Tamil feature film “Thenmerkku Paruvakkatru”, respectively, for their brilliant portrayal of mothers concerned about bettering the lives of their children in the face of untold hardship.

Vetrimaran who directed the Tamil film ‘Aadukalam’ won the best director award in the feature film category, while Arunima Sharma picked up the award for Shyam Raat Seher (Hindi & English) in the non-feature film category.

The Rajinikanth-starrer “Enthiran”, the most expensive film made in India till date, won the best production design award. Kudos went to V Srinivas M Mohan of “Enthiran” or “Robot” that won an award for the best special effects for “bringing of age a spectrum of visual special effects in Indian cinema and creating a space for the practitioners of this art form on the global map”.

The Indira Gandhi award for best debut film of a director went to Marathi film “Baboo Band Baaja”.

Director Goutam Ghose’s Bengali film “Moner Manush” won the Nargis Dutt award for best feature film on national integration. The film also won the Vikram Gaikwad best make-up artist award.

The best music direction awards went to “Ishqiya” and “Adaminte Makan Abu” with Vishal Bhardwaj and Issak Thomas Kottakapally, respectively, directing the scores for the films.