Vice President Venkaiah Naidu honours winners at 66th National Film Awards
Vice President Venkaiah Naidu on Monday presented the National Film Awards to this year’s winners with actors Vicky Kaushal, Ayushmann Khurrana and Keerthy Suresh receiving top honours.Megastar Amitabh Bachchan, who was supposed to receive the Dadasaheb Phalke Award at the ceremony, skipped the event citing ill health. The 77-year-old actor will now be honoured by President Ram Nath Kovind on December 29 at a high-tea, to be hosted at Rashtrapati Bhavan for all the winners.Naidu said he was happy that films which were recognised at the 66th edition of National Film Awards broke stereotypes and attacked superstitions.”The feature films this year are as much about emotions as they are about intelligence… In the banquet of films, we have films that break stereotypes and attack superstitions sensitively. We see through the makers’ imagination the orthodox traditions giving way to modern solutions,” Naidu said during the ceremony.He also praised non-feature films for dealing with a wide range of subjects such as female infanticide, human trafficking and adoption.Information and Broadcasting minister Prakash Javadekar called cinema the soft power of a strong country like India.
