Vinod Khanna's family accepted the Dada Saheb Phalke Award, the highest film honour in India.
Nearly 50 winners of the National Film Awards skipped the ceremony on Thursday after learning that only 11 of the 137 winners will be presented the award by President Ram Nath Kovind. Among the 11 were winners were actors Vinod Khanna and Sridevi, who were have been honoured posthumously. Oscar winning music composer AR Rahman was also among those who received the award from the president. Vinod Khanna's family accepted the Dada Saheb Phalke Award, the highest film honour in India. Sridevi's husband and daughters went on stage and received her award for the film "Mom".
Apart from the 11 winners, the rest were handed out the award by Information and Broadcasting Minister Smriti Irani and her junior minister Rajyavardhan Rathore. The president's office said that it was known that Mr Kovind attends functions for not more than one hour. Nearly 80 winners had threatened to skip the ceremony but many showed up despite their protest and received the award from the ministers.
Here are the highlights:
Censor Board chief Prasoon Joshi felt the boycott by the artistes was not in the right spirit.
"Getting an award from the President of the country is a special moment. But at the same time, these changes keep happening. I don't think we should belittle the awards," he told news agency IANS.
Oscar winning sound artiste Resul Pookutty expressed his dismay on social media.
Director Praveen Morchhale said, "Our protest is not against who is getting the award from the President. Everybody should be given by the President or the ministers. Discrimination is very humiliating. It's like artistes have been categorized into A and B".