Reliance Big Picture’s Kutty Srank (pictured) and Paa scoop a four awards a piece; Vidhu Vinod Chopra’s 3 Idiots takes “wholesome entertainment” honour.

Malayalam film Kutty Srank, directed by Shaji N Karun, scooped four trophies, including best film and best original screenplay, at India’s 57th National Film Awards.

The film, which was produced by Reliance Big Pictures, also took the awards for best cinematography and best costume design.

Hindi film Paa, also produced by Reliance and directed by R Balki, also took four awards including best Hindi film, best actor for Amitabh Bachchan and best supporting actress for Arundhati Naag.

Comedy 3 Idiots, directed by Rajkumar Hirani and produced by Vidhu Vinod Chopra, scooped best popular film providing wholesome entertainment; while the best director award went to Rituparno Ghosh for Bengali film Abohoman.

Independent feature film Lahore, produced by Vivek Khatkar and directed by Sanjay Puran Singh Chauhan, won best debut film and also best supporting actor for Farooque Sheikh. The best non-feature film award was shared by B. Manohar’s Postman and Sourav Sarangi’s Bilal.

The awards, for films released in 2009, were announced in three categories — Best Feature Film (chairman of jury Ramesh Sippy), Non Feature Film (chairman Mike Pandey) and Best Writing on Cinema (chairman Samik Bandhopadhyay).

Other winners:

Best Film on Social Issues – Well Done Abba
Best National Integration Film – Delhi 6
Best Feature Film (Marathi) – Natarang
Best Feature Film (Bengali) - Abohoman
Best Film (Assamese) – Basundhara
Best Film (Hindi) – Paa
Best Film (Kannada) – Kanasemba Kudureyaneri
Best Film (Konkani) – Palatadcho Munis
Best Film (Malayalam) – Kerala Varma Pazhassi Raja
Best Film (Tamil) – Pasanga