Filmmaker Shyam Benegal and actor Sachin Khedekar were among those awarded the Netaji Awards 2006 on Subhas Chandra Bose's 109th birth anniversary celebrations here Monday.

Honoured posthumously along with Benegal and Khedekar - the actor and director, respectively of the biopic "Bose - The Forgotten Hero" - was Habibur Rehman, an associate of the freedom struggle hero.

Rahman's daughter-in-law R. Nayeem came from Pakistan to get the award, presented by West Bengal Governor Gopal Krishna Gandhi and former Trinamool Congress MP Krishna Bose, who is the wife of Netaji's late nephew Sisir Bose.

Nayeem said Rahman was a humble and honest man and so "perhaps because of these qualities he was so close to Netaji".

"I am overwhelmed simply because it has been given by the Netaji Research Bureau from where I did all the research of the film and also because of the roster of the people who earlier received the award," Benegal said while accepting the award.

"Earlier recipients were either those associated with Netaji or scholars while I am just a filmmaker. Making this film is the greatest award in itself because I had the opportunity with my team to live through the kind of experiences Netaji lived through while making it," the renowned director said.

"Bose - The Forgotten Hero", released in May last year, was the culmination of more than three years of effort to trace the life of Netaji from his escape from Kolkata in 1941 till 1945.

Netaji Research Bureau director Sugata Bose and chairperson Krishna Bose also spoke on the occasion.