Two months after he tragic death, Sridevis' daughters Janhvi and Khushi, along with husband Boney Kapoor collected the late actor's National Award for Best Actress at a ceremony in New Delhi's Vigyan Bhawan. Janhvi looked like a dream in one of her mother's sarees, which designer Manish Malhotra described as an “emotional and precious moment”. Sridevi, who drowned in Dubai in February, was honoured with her first ever National Award posthumously. Ahead of the ceremony, Janhvi told reporters, “I want to thank the jury and the government of India for recognising the hard work my mother has done. It is very special for as a family.”
Also present were late veteran actor Vinod Khanna's son Akshaye, with wife Kavita. The two had come to collect Khanna's Dadasaheb Phalke Award- India's highest film honour. Other awardees included 'Assamese Film Village Rockstars', which won National Award for Best Film, while Riddhi Sen won Best Actor for his performance in Bengali film ' Nagar Kirtan'.
In this year's National Film Awards, 55 winners made their absence felt as they skipped the ceremony, upset they would not receive the honour from the President. In a break from 65-year old tradition, President Ram Nath Kovind only handed out the award to 11 of the 137 winners. The rest received it from Information and Broadcasting Minister Smriti Irani, and Minister of State Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore.
