68th National Film Awards: Ajay Devgn and Vishal Bhardwaj express their gratitude on their win

The winners of the 68th National Film Awards were announced on Friday. Anurag Thakur, the Union Minister for Information and Broadcasting, said, "I would like to congratulate all the jury members and all those whose work was reviewed as well as those recipients who will be awarded the National Film Awards. I want to express my gratitude to everyone for their excellent work."

Filmmaker Vipul Shah headed the jury for the feature film category. He shared, “It has been heartening to see the kind of response that was received and the number of films that we got to see. And these were very difficult Covid times during which these films were either made or being made.”

The jury for the non-feature film category was led by Chitrartha Singh and the Best Writing on Cinema category was headed by journalist Anant Vijay.

Music director Vishal Bhardwaj won the award for Best Music Direction in the Non-Feature Film category. He won the award for the song "Marenge toh vahin ja kar" in Vinod Kapri's documentary film 1232 KMS. It details the migrant workers' plight during the Covid-19 pandemic.

"I’m so happy to get an award for the film which represents and acknowledges the pain that the whole country and especially the migrant workers went through in the Covid-19 pandemic. The song was actually a poem that Gulzar Saab wrote to express the suffocating feelings of not being able to do anything to help the migrants. It was a catharsis for both of us which we expressed through Sukhwinder’s voice in Vinod Kapri’s heart-wrenching documentary 1232 KMs."

Ajay Devgn's Tanhaji: The Unsung Warrior won the national award for Best Popular Film Providing Wholesome Entertainment. Expressing his gratitude towards the film's creative team and also his parents, Ajay said, “As the producer of Tanhaji—The Unsung Warrior, it gives me immense joy to receive an honour at the 68th National Film Awards for the Best film that has provided wholesome entertainment. Tanhaji was exactly that. It is a good story of friendship, loyalty, family values and sacrifice. It has strong national sentiments, super VFX and a holistic approach in entertainment.  I must share the honour with my director Om Raut, my co-producers, T-Series and my co-actors. Most of all, I thank my creative team who has contributed handsomely to making this a blockbuster and now a National Award winner.”

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