The 57th National Film Awards function will be held on Friday at Vigyan Bhawan.

The awards will be given away by President Pratibha Patil. Minister of Information & Broadcasting Ambika Soni will also be present on the occasion.

Veteran film producer D.Ramanaidu to be honoured with Dada Saheb Phalke award for the year 2009.

The highlight of the 57th National Film Awards has been the institution of New Award Categories based on the recommendations of the Expert Committee set up under Shyam Benegal and other eminent film personalities and experts.

The mandate given to the Committee, constituted by the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting was to re-invent the National Film Awards with a view to making them more contemporary.

The cash prize for several awards in both feature films and non-feature films categories have been increased from the previous years. The Special Jury Award for Feature Films has been raised from Rs.1, 25, 000 to Rs.2, 00, 000.