K Balachander conferred Dadasaheb Phalke Award

President Pratibha Devisingh Patil today conferred the Dadasaheb Phalke Award for the year 2010 on veteran filmmaker K Balachander for in recognition of his outstanding contribution to the growth and development of Indian cinema.

The award consists of a Swarn Kamal, a cash prize of Rs10 lakh and a shawl. The award was given on the recommendations of a committee of eminent persons.

Addressing the 58th National Film Awards function in New Delhi today, the President said cinema was a very powerful medium for conveying messages and it was necessary for promoting constructive and value based thinking for a culturally rich country like ours.

This medium imposed a great responsibility on everyone associated with the film industry to use the power of cinema to do good for society, through the portrayal of attitudes that help in building a tolerant and harmonious society, she said.

In the Best Actor and Actress category, K Dhanush won the National Award for the film 'Aadukalam' (Tamil). The actor who is also Rajnikant's son-in-law will be presented with a Rajat Kamal and Rs50,000 cash.

The film 'Aadukalam' has  won 6 awards in various categories. The film brought the Best Director award to Vetri Maaran, Best Actor award to K.Dhanush, Best Screenplay (Original) award to Vetri Maaran, Best Editing award to T E Kishore and Best Choreography award to V Dinesh Kumar. It also received Special Mention for Sri Lankan actor V I S Jayapalan.