Naidu to give away 2019 National Awards, Dadasaheb Phalke honour to Amitabh Bachchan

New Delhi: Vice President Venkaiah Naidu will present the National Film Awards to the winners on Monday, December 23. The annual National Film Awards ceremony will be held at Vigyan Bhawan where megastar Amitabh Bachchan will also receive the Dadasaheb Phalke award.

Union Minister for Information & Broadcasting Prakash Javadekar will be attending the ceremony, a press release said. Traditionally, the National Awards are handed out to the winners by the President of India. According to sources, President Ram Nath Kovind will host a high tea for the winners later.

In 2018, President Kovind had presented only a handful set of awards during the ceremony which was divided into two phases. The first set of awards were conferred by Union Ministers Smriti Irani and Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore, while the President presented the second lot.

The winners of 66th National Film Awards were announced in August this year with Gujarati film “Hellaro” bagging the Best Film honor.

Vicky Kaushal and Ayushmann Khuranna jointly won the Best Actor trophy for their performances in “Uri: The Surgical Strike” and “Andhadhun”, respectively.

Keerthy Suresh won the Best Actress award for her role in Telugu movie “Mahanati”. Aditya Dhar of “Uri” won the Best Director award.