The national awards for 2005 were announced last evening. For best film, 'Aadum Koothu' directed by Malayalam director TV Chandran and starring Cheran and Navia Nair has been selected.

Usually the awards are announced in April itself. This year because of the Censor Board being involved in a court case, this announcement got postponed.

Amitabh Bachchan has been selected as best actor of 2005 for his role in 'Black' as a teacher who brings up a mentally retarded child into adulthood.

Sarika has been selected as best actress for her role in 'Farzania' which is a true story based on the religion conflict in Gujarat. It has been made without delving deeply into the religion aspect but extremist Hindu groups stopped the film from being screened in Gujarat. The director of this film is an NRI Rahul Todakia and he has been chosen as best director for his courage and humane nature.

Bengali director Buddhadev Dasgupta's 'Kalpurush' has been chosen as best film on a national level.

Lalgudi Jayaram got best composer for his music in 'Sringaram' and the film's choreographer Saroj Khan got best choreographer award.

Both the award winning Tamil films 'Aadum Koothu' and 'Sringaram' have not been formally released. It has been many months since the films have been completed but distributors have not come forward to buy the films, hence they are still in the cans.

It's a pity that these award wining films are yet to be enjoyed by the public.

Is something wrong with our taste? Or with those films?