Bollywood sensation Vidya Balan glammed up the evening at the 59th National Film Awards function held in New Delhi on Thursday as Vice President Hamid Ansari presented the awards to the winners, including Bengali thespian Soumitra Chatterjee who was conferred the highest film honour, the Dada Saheb Phalke.

"As a collective, the films and artistes who have been awarded today prove that contrary to popular perception, Indian cinema is neither formulaic nor conforming to stereotypes.

It has successfully adapted traditional Indian narrative and oral traditions to the requirements of technology and formats of new media," Ansari said.

Speaking on the occasion, Minister for Information & Broadcasting, Ambika Soni said, "The year 2013 would be observed as the Centenary year of Indian Cinema.

India's first full length feature film "RajaHarishchandra" was released on 3rd May 1913 at Mumbai's Coronation Cinema. To commemorate the release ofIndia's first film, the National Film Awards Ceremony would now on be held on 3rd of May every year."

Legendary Bengali actor Soumitra Chatterjee, who was one of the favourites of late film maestro Satyajit Ray, was conferred the highest honour in India cinema, the Dada Sahek Phalke award, for the year 2011 at an august ceremony.

"I am not in a frame of mind to speak," said the 77-year-old actor who is a legend of Bengali cinema who also left his mark in international cinema.

He said he was overwhelmed by the honour which was presented to him by Vice-President Hamid Ansari.

"The Dada Saheb Phalke Award winners constitute the legends of Indian cinema. This prestigious award today is being presented to renowned Bengali film and theatre actor Shri Soumitra Chatterjee.

His partnership with Satyajit Ray would indeed be counted as a memorable director-actor combination in the history of cinema. I warmly congratulate Shri Chatterjee and all other award winners. I also wish to thank and congratulate the distinguished Jury for the Awards for their hard work," Ansari said.

Chatterjee had starred in countless Bengali movies of both the commercial and arthouse genre.

Chatterjee beat Bollywood actor Pran, who was a popular villain in the films of the 1960s and 1970s, to bag the award for 2011.

Bollywood's new sensation Vidya Balan clinched the Best Actress award for her notable performance in the film 'The Dirty Picture'.