His film 'Page 3' has won a National award for Best Film this year, putting him in the 'rare' category of filmmakers to have the distinction of more than one of their films bagging the prestigious award.

Successive National awards for 'Chandni Bar' (the film won three National awards three years ago, including the Best Actor award for Tabu) and 'Page 3' (which also bagged three National awards this year) has undoubtedly catapulted Madhur Bhandarkar in the league of 'socially-conscious' filmmakers like Shyam Benegal, Govind Nihalani and Mrinal Sen, all of whom have esablished a niche for themselves in India's cinematic history through a series of films reflecting the 'star reality' of Indian society.

''I am really lucky that all my films, from 'Chandni Bar' to 'Satta' to 'Page 3', have all won tremendous critical acclaim and also fetched for me a host of awards, including the National award.

Winning National awards for two of one's films that too within a short period is undoubtedly a matter of honour and pride for me.

At the same time, it places on me a huge responsibility of measuring up to the peoples expectations,''Madhur told in an interview here.

In the capital to recieve the National award for 'Page 3' From President A P J Abdul Kalam, Madhur brushed aside the criticism in some quarters of the National award for 'Page 3', which some described as a 'commercial' film with a "wafer-thin storyline having just a series of parties to show for a story".

''Page 3 is not about parties alone. rather, it deals with the emotional journey of a journalist who, while covering the party circuit for her newspaper, goes through a "roller coaster of emotions as she comes face to face with the changing relationships in Hi-society culture,''Madhur said.

''In fact, be it 'Chandni Bar', which portrayed the stark reality of life of bar girls in Mumbai, 'Satta', which dealt with the 'goings on' in the political scene or 'Page 3', all my films have brought out some aspect of Indian society to the fore.

I'd rather make a realistic film than an out-and-out commercial venture. Infact, I want to show to the audience the stark reality of life, which explains the slighly 'dark touch' in my films,''Madhur said.