A revived Bengali cinema was the focus of attention at India's 50th National Film Awards on Saturday with Mr And Mrs Iyer and Mondo Meyer Upakhkhan taking the top prizes.

Filmmaker Aparna Sen was named best director for her English-language feature Mr And Mrs Iyer, while Sen's daughter, Konkona Sen Sharma (pictured), took the Best Actresses award for the same film.

The film also won the Nargis Dutt Award which is given for the encouragement of national integration in cinema.

The best feature film award went to veteran filmmaker Budhdhadeb Dasgupta for Mondo Meyer Upakhkhan. The Bengali movie deals with prostitutes and society's attitude towards them. The award for the most popular film went to Sanjay Leela Bhansali's Devdas.

Bollywood also had its share of honours - Hindi film star Ajay Devgan was awarded the best actor prize for the second time for his portrayal of freedom fighter Bhagat Singh in Raj Kumar Santoshi's The Legend Of Bhagat Singh.

Anwar Jamal's Hindi film Swaraj, which was screened at the Montreal World Film Festival was judged the best film addressing important social issues.

The Indian Minister for Information & Broadcasting, Ravi Shanker Prasad, announced the creation of a new category - for the best digital movie of the year - to be included in the National Film Awards from its 2004 edition.

Meanwhile Aishwarya Rai's, Chokher Bali, a Bengali-language feature directed by Rituparno Ghosh, is tipped to be the opening film of the International Film Festival of India, which runs from October 9 to 19 in New Delhi.