70th National Film Awards: AR Rahman bags Best Music Director for ‘Ponniyin Selvan: I’

New Delhi [India], August 16 (ANI): Music maestro AR Rahman bagged the Best Music Director (Background music) award for his work in Mani Ratnam's 'Ponniyin Selvan: I' at the 70th National Film Awards for the year 2022.
'Ponniyin Selvan: I' also bagged the Best Tamil Film award. Ravi Varman won the Best Cinematography award.
Helmed by Mani Ratnam, the film stars south actors Vikram, Trisha Krishnan Karthik Sivakumar, Jayam Ravi and Aishwarya Rai Bachchan in the lead roles.
'Ponniyin Selvan-Part 1' is a cinematic adaptation of author Kalki Krishnamurthy's Tamil novel of the same name which was released in the form of a series during the 1950s. It marks the third collaboration of Aishwarya with south actor Vikram after their critically acclaimed film 'Raavan' in 2010.
In the film, Aishwarya could be seen in dual roles. Queen Nandini, the princess of Pazhuvoor, who is on a mission to seek vengeance, and Mandakini Devi in the historical drama.
Pritam received the award for Best Music Director (Songs) for 'Brahmastra: Part One - Shiva'.
Directed by Ayan Mukerji with its VFX Supervisors Jaykar Arudra, Viral Thakkar, and Neelesh Gore, 'Brahmastra: Part One - Shiva' won the award for Best Film in AVGC (Animation, Visual Effects Gaming & Comic).
'Brahmastra Part One: Shiva' is the first part of the planned trilogy in the Astraverse by filmmaker Ayan Mukerji. The film also stars Amitabh Bachchan, Mouni Roy and Nagarjuna Akkineni. The storyline of Brahmastra follows Shiva, a DJ, who learns about his strange connection with the element of fire. He also holds the power to awaken the Brahmastra, a supernatural weapon that is said to be able to destroy the universe, capable of destroying creation and vanquishing all beings.
It stars an ensemble cast including Amitabh Bachchan, Ranbir Kapoor, Alia Bhatt, Mouni Roy and Nagarjuna.
The 70th National Film Awards were announced on Friday in the national capital.
The Jury comprised of eminent filmmakers and film personalities. The awards were announced by Rahul Rawail, Chairperson, Feature Films Jury, Nila Madhab Panda, Chairperson, Non-feature Films Jury, and Gangadhar Mudaliar, Best Writing on Cinema Jury in the presence of Vrunda Desai, Joint Secretary (Films), Ministry of Information and Broadcasting.
Rishab Shetty has been awarded Best Actor in a Leading Role for his performance in the movie 'Kantara' whereas Nithya Menen bagged the award for Best Actress in a Leading Role for 'Thiruchitrambalam'.
Pavan Raj Malhotra won the award for Best Supporting Actor while Neena Gupta won the Best Supporting Actress Award in the Feature Films category. (ANI)