BHUBANESWAR: A star-studded glittering nite marked the 22nd State Film Awards function here on Wednesday.
Veteran cinematographer and filmmaker Apurba Kishore Bir, who broke new ground with his films and documentaries, was honoured with the prestigious Jayadev Award for Lifetime Achievement for his contribution to the field of cinema. The awards were given away by Culture Minister Prafulla Samal.
Babushan and Riya De were given the best actor and actress awards respectively while the best supporting actor and actress awards went to Mihir Das and Usasi Mishra respectively. Jiban Panda and Master Ankit were declared as the best comedian and best child artiste respectively.
The Mohan Sundar Dev Goswami Award for Best Film was given to ‘Swayamsiddha’ and its director Sudhanshu Mohan Sahu won the award for best director. The film based on Maoism swept six other awards - best story (Namita Mallick), best cinematography (Sanjib Kumar Mohapatra), best lyricist (Swarup Nayak), best art direction (Budha Moharana), best sound recording (Ajay) and a Special Jury Award for actor Sidhant Mohapatra.
Abhijit Majumdar won the best music director award while Ira Mohanty the best female playback singer title. Awards for Best Screenplay, Children’s Film and Documentary have not been given.
Of the 22 films made last year, only seven have been in the race for the awards. A seven-member jury comprising veteran actor Sarat Pujari, filmmaker Sabyasachi Mohapatra, cinematographer-filmmaker Raju Mishra, writer Prativa Ray, editor-filmmaker Gadadhar Puty and journalists Pradosh Patnaik and Parikhit Jena selected the awardees.
The Minister said from next year the prize money would be increased. The ` 1 lakh cash for Jayadev Award has been increased to ` 5 lakh. Similar increases have been made for other categories as well. This apart, five new awards _ tribal language film, dialogue writer, costume man, make-up man and choreography _ will be instituted.