National Awards to be held on October 21 in New Delhi

From singer Manna Dey to veteran director Adoor Gopalakrishnan, the biggest names in Indian cinema will gather here for the 55th National Film Awards to be presented by President Pratibha Patil on October 21.

While eminent playback singer Manna Dey would be conferred the prestegious Dada Saheb Phalke Award, auteurs like Adoor and actress Umashree, National Award winners for 2007, will collect their coveted trophies.

Filmmaker Priyadarshan's Tamil film Kanchivaram, a period drama about silk weavers of the south, will receive the Best Feature Film award at the function.

Tamil actor Prakash Raj will take home the best actor award for his role in Kanchivaram. This category saw stiff competition from Bollywood superstars Shah Rukh Khan and Aamir Khan.

Veteran filmmaker Adoor Gopalakrishnan will receive the Best Director's award for his film Naalu Pennungal. This will be his seventh National award.

Seasoned Kannada film actor Umashree will be honoured with the Best Actress award for her performance in Girish Kasaravalli's Kannada film Gulabi Talkies, which depicts the transformation of the people of a small fishing village after their exposure to cinema.

Filmmaker Sai Paranjpe headed the jury for feature film category, documentary filmmaker Ashoke Viswanathan chaired the jury for the non-film category and writer Namita Gokhale chaired the jury for best writing on Indian films.

Aamir Khan-directed Taare Zameen Par won the award in Family Welfare Category. Playback singer Shankar Mahadevan will be given the award for the song Maa in the film Taare Zameen Par, while Prasoon Joshi will be felicitated for the Best Lyrics for the same song.

The Best Child Actor award would be given to Sharad Goyekar for his role in the Marathi film Tingya.

Actor Darshan Zariwala will be given the best supporting actor award for his portrayal of Mahatma Gandhi in Feroz Abbas Khan's film Gandhi - My Father, which is the only Hindi film to bag two more awards for Best Screenplay for Khan and Special Jury award.

Among other awards, the best critic award will be given to VK Joseph for his intellectual and aesthetic integrity in writing about regional, national and world cinema.