Priyamani bags Best Actress Award

The 54th National Film Awards Committee has adjudged Tamil actress Priyamani as Best Actress for her excellent performance in movie Paruthi Veeran. The Awardees' list was announced today in New Delhi. Among the big winners was Pulijanmam, Priyanandan's Malayalam film. It bagged the National Award for Best Film. Pulijanmam, released in 2006 based on the famous Malayalam play of the same name by N Prabhakaran. Murali plays in the lead.

Other winners include Rajkumar Hirani's Lage Raho Munnabhai, which was adjudged the Best Popular Film providing wholesome entertainment. Madhur Bhandarkar won the Best Director award for his film Traffic Signal.

Tamil actress Priyamani won the Best Actress award for her performance in Ameer Sultan's blockbuster Paruthi Veeran, a film on the caste and social chaos. This film was also featured at the Berlin Film Festival recently and won the special jury's award in Asian Panorama.

Bengali actor Soumitra Chatterjee, who declined the Special Jury award in 2001, won the Best Actor award for his role in debutant director Suman Ghosh's Podokkhep. Chatterjee played an old man who drifted away from his daughter and developed a bond with a child, who moves into his neighborhood.