65th National Film Awards: Sridevi, Vinod Khanna and A R Rahman honoured by President Ram Nath Kovin

The prestigious National Film Awards ceremony which took place in the capital today was attended by many well-known faces in spite of 65 awardees skipping the ceremony for not being honoured by the President Ram Nath Kovind.

Bollywood stalwarts Sridevi, Vinod Khanna, A R Rahmanwere awarded with the prestigious awards by President Ram Nath Kovind. Music maestro A R Rahman bagged two awards - for Best Music Direction for the songs in the Tamil movie 'Kaatru Veliyidai' and the Background Score in the Hindi movie 'Mom'. While his wife Saira Banu looked happy seeing her hubby receive the prestigious award at the hands of the President. Meanwhile, Akshaye Khanna along with his stepmother Kavita accepted the Dadasaheb Phalke Award on behalf of his father, the late legendary actor Vinod Khanna for his contribution to cinema. A short video was played in memory of the late actor which featured the likes of Amitabh Bachchan, Hema Malini and Gulzar. Sridevi's entire family which included her husband Boney Kapoor along with her daughters Janhvi and Khushi accepted the Best Actress Award on behalf of the late actress.

Talking about receiving this award ahead of the ceremony Boney was quoted as saying "I wish she was here. She truly deserved this award. It's so unfortunate that she is not here with us today to celebrate. I am grateful to the government of India, the I&B Ministry and the jury. It is a proud moment for all of us but sadly she is not here."

Even Janhvi was quoted thanking the jury and the government for bestowing the award upon her mother Sridevi. "I want to thank the jury and the government of India for recognising the hard-work my mother has done. It is very special for us as a family," she said.

These were not the only ones who were awarded for their exceptional excellence in the field of entertainment but even Pankaj Tripathi and Divya Dutta too received the prestigious National Film Awards from Smriti Irani, Minister of Textiles and Information & Broadcasting, and Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore, Minister of Youth Affairs and Sports.

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