Mumbai: Indian Film and Television Directors' Association marked the new year with new awards, honouring industry greats like Shakti Samanta, Lekh Tondon and B P Singh.

“You feel responsible, you feel better, than you feel I must do better, I must do something,” said director Lekh Tandon.

Filmmaker Pradeep Sarkar also found himself at the receiving end thanks to his National Award for Parineeta.

“There’s a sense of closeness in this awards function. It feels really nice,” said Sarkar.

Actors Sharmila Tagore and Shatrughan Sinha took time out for the function watching their favourite directors being honoured.

“It was done very well, it was straight from the heart. What Shaktiji was saying was so real. Other award functions should learn from this,” said Sharmila Tagore.

“When I was called here as chief guest, I left all other engagement and came here,” said Sinha.

All in all, it was a starry event with some real appreciation for the real creators.