New Delhi, August 7
The much celebrated and versatile actor Amitabh Bachchan has been adjudged as the best actor of 2005 for his sterling performance in the Hindi film ‘Black’ while Sarika has been adjudged as the best actress for her much appreciated role in the English film ‘Parzania’.

The prestigious talent tags for Bachchan and Sarika have come from distinguished jury of the 53rd National Film Awards-2005.

The much awaited awards were announced here today sans any press conference. Bengali film ‘Kaalpurush- Memories in the mist’ has been adjudged as best feature film. Directed by Budhadeb Dasgupta, the film won the attention of the jury for its rare and lyrical style.

Sanjay Leela Bhansali’s ‘Black’ has also won the coveted award for the best feature film in Hindi.

Similarly, Rahul Dholakia’s film ‘Parzani’ has also bagged the award for best direction. ‘Rang De Basanti’, directed by Rakesh Omprakash Mehra, has been adjudged as the best popular film providing wholesome entertainment. It has also won the best audiography and best editing awards.

The Indira Gandhi award for the best first film of a director has gone to Pradeep Sarkar for ‘Parineeta’.

Malayalam film ‘Daivanamathil’ has won the Nargis Dutt award for best feature film on national integration.

Naresh Iyer and Shreya Ghoshal bagged awards of best male and female playback singers respectively for ‘Roo Ba Roo’ in ‘Rang De Basanti’ and ‘Apne Aansoo Peene Ke Liye’ in ‘Paheli’.

Naseeruddin Shah has bagged award of the best supporting actor for his role in `Iqbal' while Urvashi has been awarded as the best supporting actress for her role in the Malayalam film `Achhuvinte Amma'. `Iqbal', produced by Subhash Ghai and directed by Nagesh Kukunoor, has been adjudged the best film on social issues.

Anupam Kher has won the special jury award for his outstanding performance in the Hindi film `Maine Gandhi ko Nahin Mara'.

`Blue Umbrella', directed by Vishal Bhardwaj, has been adjudged as the best children's film.

Sai Kumar has been adjudged as the best child artist for his role in the Telugu film ‘Bommalata-A bellyful of dreams’.

`Baghi', directed by Sukhminder Dhanjal, has been adjudged as the best feature film in Punjabi. The film graphically delineates the caste divide in modern day Punjab.

In the non feature film category, `Riding solo to the top of the world' has bagged the award of the best non feature film of the year while `The Whistle Blowers', directed by Umesh Aggarwal and produced by Rajiv Mehrotra, has won the award for the best investigative film.

Baradwaj Ranjan has won the award for the best film critic of 2005 for his reader friendly reviews on cinema.