Sridevi has posthumously won her first National Award for Best Actress for her performance in MOM, the revenge thriller that was her swan song. Sridevi, 54, drowned in a Dubai hotel bathroom in February and was cremated with state honours in Mumbai later. MOM, in which she was cast as a mother bent on avenging the rape and murder of her daughter, was Sridevi’s third film after returning to acting recently with English Vinglish and Tamil film Puli. Before she died, Sridevi filmed a cameo appearance for the film Zero, starring Shah Rukh Khan, Anushka Sharma and Katrina Kaif, and releasing this December.
A R Rahman won Best Music Direction for director Mani Rathnam’s Kaatru Veliyidai, and Best Background Score for MOM. Kaatru Veliyidai also won Best Female Playback Singer for Sasha Thirupati. Malayalam singer Yesudas won Best Male Playback Singer.
Prasanta Patnaik