NEW DELHI: The Hindi film ‘Paan Singh Tomar’ by Tigmanshu Dhulia has been selected as the best feature film of 2012 with its protagonist Irrfan Khan sharing the best actor award with the veteran Vikram Gokhale for the film Anumati in Marathi, while Usha Jadhav gets the actress award for her performance in Dhag (Marathi).

Marathi films have bagged another prominent award with Dhag director Shivaji Lolan Patil getting the best director award.

In the Feature Film category, a total of 38 films from 14 languages have been selected for the 60th National Awards. Clearly demonstrating the emergence of quality cinema in 2012 in different languages, many awards have been shared by two different films or artistes.

In the non-feature film category, the award for the Best Film has been conferred on Shepherds of Paradise (Gojri & Urdu) produced and directed by Raja Shabir Khan. In the category of Best Writing on Cinema section, the book Silent Cinema in India – A Pictorial Journey (English) written by the veteran B D Garga and published by Harper Collins Publisher India has bagged the top honour while P S Radhakrishnan has been conferred the award for the Best film Critic with Piyush Roy getting a special mention in this category.

Chittagong (Hindi) and 101 Chodiyangal (Malayalam) have shared the Indira Gandhi award for the Best Debut Film of a Director for Bedaprata Pain and Siddhartha Siva respectively. The award for the Best Popular Film for providing wholesome entertainment has been shared by Vicky Donor (Hindi) by Shoojit Sircar and Ustad Hotel (Malayalam) by Anwar Rashid.

Thespian Anu Kapoor gets the best Supporting Actor award for Vicky Donor, and Dolly Ahluwalia for the film Vicky Donor and Kalpana for the film ThanichallaNjan (Malyalam) get the best supporting Actress awards. The Best Child Artist award has been shared by Master Virendra Pratap for Dekh Indian Circus (Hindi) and Master Minon for 101 Chodiyangal (Malayalam).

The well-known Shankar Mahadevan gets the best Male playback singer award for Bolo Na from the film Chittagong which also gets Prasoon Joshi the best lyricist award. The award for the Best Female Playback singer has gone to the Marathi Samhita for the song Palakein Naa Moon Don by Aarti Anklekartikekar, and Shailender Barve gets the best music direction award for same film. Biji Bal gets the best background score award for Kaliyachan (Malayalam).

ThanichallaNjan (Malayalam) by Babu Thiruvalla gets the Nargis Dutt award for best feature film on national integration, while the Malayalam film Spirit by Renjith gets the best social issues award. The Best film on environment conservation/Preservation also goes to a Malayalam film, Black Forest by Joshy Mathew.

Dekh Indian Circus by Mangesh Hadawale is the best children’s film and Delhi Safari by Nikhil Advani is the best animation film.

Cameraman Sudheer Palsane gets the cinematography award for the Mising film Ko:Yad. The award for the best screenplay writer (original) has been conferred on Sujoy Ghosh for the film Kahaani which also gets the best editing award for Namrata Rao. The award for best Screen play writer (adapted) has been conferred on Bhavesh Mandalia and Umesh Shukla for the film OMG -Oh My God. The award for the best Dialogue has been conferred on Anjali Menon for the film Ustad Hotel (Malayalam).

The audiography awards go for Location Sound Recordist to Radhakrishnan S for the Malayalam Annayum Rasoolum, for Sound Designer to AnirbanSengupta and Dipankar Chaki for the Bengali Shabdo and for Re-recordist of the final mixed track to Alok De, Sinoy Joseph and Shreejesh Nair for ‘Gangs of Wasseypur’. Boontawee ‘Thor’ Taweepasas and Lalgudi N. Ilayaraja get the production design award for Kamal Haasan’s Tamil Viswaroopam. Two Tamil films Paradesi and Vazakkuenn 18/9 get the awards for best costume design by Poornima Ramaswamy and best make up by Raja respectively. Makuta VFX get the special effects award for Eega in Telugu.

A special jury award has been conferred on Rituparno Ghosh for the Bengali film Chitrangadha, and on Nawazuddin Siddiqui for the films Kahaani, Gangs of Wasseypur, Dekh Indian circus and Talaash (Hindi). The award for the best choreography has been conferred on the legendary Pt. Birju Maharaj for the film Vishwaroopam (Tamil).

In the Non-Feature Film category, Vikrant Pawar has got the Best Director award for the film Kaatal (Marathi). The Award for the Best Debut Film of a Director has been conferred to Lipika Singh Darai for the film Eka Gachha Eka Manisa Eka Samudra (Odia). Shumona Goel and Shai Heredia for the film I Am Micro (English) and Vasudah Joshi for Cancer Katha (English) have been selected for Special Jury Award. Timbaktu (English) has been awarded as the Best film in the Environmental category and Dreaming Taj Mahal ( Hindi & Urdu) has been conferred the award for the Best Promotional film.