Top Focus/ 69th National Awards: Kriti wins Best Actress for Mimi, says director Laxman Utekar predicted it

Kriti Sanon was bestowed with the National Award for Best Actress at the 69th National Film Awards ceremony held in Vigyan Bhawan in New Delhi. The winners, announced on August 24, were felicitated by President Droupadi Murmu. Kriti Sanon won the award for Best actress for her performance in Mimi.

3 things you need to know

• Kriti Sanon and Alia Bhatt were declared joint winners in the Best Actress category at the 69th National Film Awards.
• Both Kriti and Alia are first-time National Award winners. 
• Kriti's co-star in Mimi, Pankaj Tripathi was also bestowed with the National Award in the Best Supporting Actor category. 
   

(Mimi official poster | Image: IMDb)

Kriti Sanon 'elated’ over National Award win

Kriti Sanon arrived at the 69th National Film Awards ceremony in a white embellished saree. Talking about her accomplishment, the actress stated that she was ‘elated’ to receive the prestigious award in her "less than a decade long career". She made her Bollywood debut with Heropanti (2014) opposite Tiger Shroff. 

Interestingly, Kriti recalled Mimi director Laxman Utekar predicting her National Award win when the film was being shot. She said, “When we were filming Mimi, Laxman Utekar used to tell me, 'You will win a National Award for this'." She expressed her gratitude to the filmmaker and mentioned that when someone shows confidence in an actor, it boosts their confidence. She also added that it is a dream for all actors to win the National Award but she never thought it would come so early in her career. 
 

Kriti Sanon happy for Mimi co-star Pankaj Tripathi 

(Kriti Sanon and Pankaj Tripathi have received awards for their roles in Mimi | Image: IMDb)

Along with Kriti Sanon, her Mimi co-star Pankaj Tripathi also won the National Award for Best Supporting Actor. She noted that she has done some of her best work with Tripathi. She also spoke about the equation they share and mentioned that they have “great respect and comfort with each other”. Kriti added that some scenes in the movie were improvised by the actors on the spot and those scenes made it to the trailer as well. She concluded by sharing that she is "dying" to work with Tripathi again.