The National Film Awards announced in Delhi on Friday posthumously awarded two icons of Indian cinema – Sridevi for Best Actress for her performance in MOM, the revenge thriller that was her swan song; Vinod Khanna, who died last year, will receive the Dadasaheb Phalke award, India’s highest film honour.
The best actor recognition went to Riddhi Sen for the Bengali film “Nagarkirtan”. “Newton” was named the best Hindi film while S S Rajamauli’s “Baahubali: The Conclusion” was the best popular film providing wholesome entertainment. Khanna died on April 27 last year at the age of 70 after a fight with cancer. Sridevi passed away at the age of 54 on February 25 this year, shocking the country.
Sridevi, whose filmography spanned across 50 years and in 300 films in languages such as Tamil, Telugu and Hindi, was recognised for her role of an angry mother seeking justice for her daughter in rape revenge drama, “Mom”. Her death, at the age of 54 in February this year, had shocked the country.
