Superstar Rajinikanth and others honoured at India's National Film Awards

India on Monday honoured its film talents at the annual 67th National Film Awards, spanning several languages and states across various film industries. South Indian superstar Rajinikanth , 70, was presented with the Dadasaheb Phalke Award, the county's highest honour in the field of cinema, named after the man who made India's first film in 1913. Rajinikanth's son-in-law Dhanush shared the award for Best Actor with Bollywood star Manoj Bajpayee, at the event held in New Delhi and presided over by Vice President of India M Venkaiah Naidu. Dhanush was recognised for his role in the Tamil film Asuran , while Bajpayee bagged the award for the Hindi film Bhonsle . Bollywood's Kangana Ranaut was named Best Actress for her two films Panga and Manikarnika: The Queen of Jhansi , while Pallavi Joshi won Best Supporting Actress for The Tashkent Files and South Indian star Vijay Sethupathi was named Best Supporting Actor for his role in the film Super Deluxe . Scroll through the gallery above for photos from the event. The Bollywood coming-of-age film Chhichhore , which starred the late actor Sushant Singh Rajput , was also named Best Hindi Film. Talents recognised were for films released in 2019, as the event was cancelled in 2020 owing to the Covid-19 pandemic. The list of recipients was announced in March this year. “I wholeheartedly thank the central government and Prime Minister Narendra Modi for conferring me [the] Dadasaheb Phalke Award, the highest award in the Indian Film Industry," Rajinikanth tweeted in April when his name was revealed as this year's honouree. "I thank my bus driver and friend Raj Bahadur who discovered my acting talent and encouraged me, my brother Sathyanarayana Rao Gaekwad who sacrificed a lot while we were struggling in poverty to make me an actor, my guru K Balachander for creating ‘the Rajinikanth'." A bus conductor-turned-actor, the star, who mainly does Tamil films, is one of Asia's best-paid actors. While a number of film awards exist in India, the National Film Awards are deemed the most prestigious and competitive, as winners are chosen from across India's many language-based film industries. Bollywood, for example, is a blanket term for films made in Hindi by the film industry in Mumbai. Best Feature Film: Marakkar: Lion of the Arabian Sea (Malayalam) Best Actor (shared): Manoj Bajpayee for Bhonsle (Hindi), and Dhanush for Asuran (Tamil) Best Actress : Kangana Ranaut for Panga (Hindi) and Manikarnika: The Queen of Jhansi (Hindi) Best Supporting Actress : Pallavi Joshi for The Tashkent Files (Hindi) Best Supporting Actor : Vijay Sethupathi for Super Deluxe (Tamil) Best Director : Sanjay Puran Singh Chauhan for Bahattar Hoorain (Hindi) Best Debut Film of a Director : Mathukutty Xavier for Helen (Malayalam) Best Child Artist : Naga Vishal for KD (Tamil) Best Action Direction : Vikram Mor for Avane Srimannarayana (Kannada) Best Choreography : Raju Sundaram for Maharishi (Telugu) Best Special Effects : Siddharth Priyadarshan for Marakkar: Lion of the Arabian Sea (Malayalam) Special Jury Award : Radhakrishnan Parthiban for Oththa Seruppu Size 7 (Tamil) Best Lyrics : Prabha Varma for Kolaambi (Malayalam) Best Music Direction : D Imman for Viswasam (Tamil) Best Background Music : Prabuddha Banerjee for Jyeshthoputro (Bengali) Best Make-up Artist : Ranjith for Helen (Malayalam) Best Costumes : Sujith Sudhakaran and V Sai for Marakkar: Lion of the Arabian Sea (Malayalam) Best Production Design : Sunil Nigwekar and Nilesh Wagh for Anandi Gopal (Marathi) Best Audiography (Location Sound Recordist) : Debajit Gayan for Iewduh (Khasi) Best Audiography (Re-recordist of final mixed track) : Resul Pookutty for Oththa Seruppu Size 7 (Tamil) Best Screenplay (Original) : Kaushik Ganguly for Jyeshthoputro (Bengali) Best Screenplay (Adapted) : Srijit Mukherji for Gumnaami (Bengali), Best Screenplay (Dialogue Writer) : Vivek Ranjan Agnihotri for The Tashkent Files (Hindi) Best Cinematography : Gireesh Gangadharan for Jallikattu (Malayalam) Best Editing : Navin Nooli for Jersey (Telugu) Best Children’s Film : Kastoori (Hindi) Best Film on Environment Conservation : Water Burial (Monpa) Best Film on Social Issues : Anandi Gopal (Marathi) Best Film on National Integration : Taj Mahal (Marathi) Best Popular Film Providing Wholesome Entertainment : Maharishi (Telugu) Best Female Playback Singer : Savani Ravindra for Bardo (Marathi) Best Male Playback Singer : B Praak for Kesari (Hindi) Best Hindi Film : Chhichhore Best Telugu Film : Jersey Best Malayalam Film : Kalla Nottam Best Tamil Film : Asuran Best Paniya Film : Kenjira Best Mishing Film : Anu Ruwad Best Khasi Film : Iewduh Best Chattisgarhi Film : Bhulan the Maze Best Haryanvi Film : Chhorriyan Chhoron Se Kam Nahi Hoti Best Tulu Film : Pingara Best Punjabi Film : Rab Da Radio 2 Best Odia Film : Kalira Atita and Sala Budhar Badla (shared) Best Manipuri Film : Eigi Kona Best Marathi Film : Bardo Best Konkani Film : Kaajro Best Kannada Film : Akshi Best Bengali Film : Gumnaami Best Assamese Film : Ronuwa – Who Never Surrender

Superstar Rajinikanth and others honoured at India's National Film Awards

The event recognised films released in 2019, after last year's ceremony was cancelled owing to the Covid-19 pandemic