Selfies, giggles & glitterati at the National Awards

The winners of the 64th National Film Awards were honoured in the capital by President Pranab Mukherjee on Wednesday. Like every year, this year's selections also had its share of controversies about who was deserving and who wasn't. The controversies made their presence felt in the speeches at the ceremony as well.
The I&B minister, Venkaiah Naidu, said in his speech that the government doesn't want any controversies, while filmmaker Priyadarshan, who chaired the feature film jury of the awards, said he has done total justice in the selection. Anil Kapoor, who was cheering for his daughter Sonam Kapoor, told us that people might have their doubts about who is deserving and who is not, but he certainly doesn't have any.

Priyadarshan, who was criticised for selecting Akshay Kumar as Best Actor and ignoring performances of actors like Aamir Khan (Dangal) and Manoj Bajpayee (Aligarh), said, "I promise we have done our best. Appreciation of cinema is always subjective. My film may not be good for you, your film may not be good for me. But when it comes to a jury, its decision is final and it has to be appreciated. The jury has done total justice and gave importance to the films which had social issues, projected our culture and beliefs. While analyzing a film, we look at how India was projected in it."
Sonam Kapoor, who received a Special Mention for 'Neerja', looked extremely happy to be at the ceremony, and spent most of the time whispering and giggling with her Special Mention co-awardee Adil Hussain
Akshay Kumar gets a cheerful greeting from Sonam Kapoor as Best Actress awardee Surabhi Lakshmi looks on

Adish Praveen gets the Best Child Artist award the I&B minister, president and Rajyavardhan Rathore, MoS, I&B ministry

Veteran Telugu filmmaker K Vishwanath was awarded the Dadasaheb Phalke Award and received a standing ovation
Starry guest list

(L-R) Madhur Bhandarkar, Adil Hussain, Special Mention and Manoj Joshi, Best Supporting Actor Award
(L-R) Mohan Lal, Special Jury Award, LK Advani and Nila Madhab Panda, Special Mention for 'Kadvi Hawa'
I can show 'Neerja' with pride to any director or producer in the world: Anil Kapoor
When it was Sonam’s turn to receive her Special Mention Award, dad Anil Kapoor took out his phone to capture the moment. He, along with Sonam's rumoured boyfriend Anand Ahuja and mother Sunita, stood up and clapped the hardest .
Talking about his daughter's achievement and the controversy around her selection, Anil told us, "I know this 'deserving' argument. There have been times when I got an award and people said that someone else deserved it and sometimes even I thought so. But that's not the case with 'Neerja'. I can show this film to any director or producer in the world and he will also have the same opinion about the film and her."

Anil Kapoor and Anand Ahuja cheer for Sonam
Zaira Wasim gets Best Supporting Actress Award for 'Dangal'; she was escorted with several security officials
Best Actor awardee Akshay Kumar with wife Twinkle and son Aarav. Twinkle tweeted this photo and wrote, "Now I can officially refer to him as my trophy husband"