The 57th National award winners have been announced and Maestro Ilayaraja has won the award for the Best Background score for his efforts in Pazhassi Raja. Incidentally, Ilayaraja is the first winner of the award in this category which has been introduced only this year. This will be his fourth National award after Sindhu Bhairavi, Rudraveena and Saagara Sangamam. The best music director (songs) award has been given to Amit Trivedi for the Hindi movie Dev D.

The best film award has been awarded to Kutty Srank in Malayalam while Rituparno Ghosh has been chosen as the best director. Hindi film, 3 Idiots has won two awards including the best popular film and the best wholesome entertainment award. Another Hindi film, Paa has won four national awards including Best actor award for Amitabh Bachchan and Best supporting actress for Arundhuti Nag.