Southern cinema made a clean sweep at the 55th National Awards announced today. Prakash Raj has bagged the prestigious Best Actor award for his performance in Tamil film ‘Kanchivaram’.

The actor has earlier won the best supporting actor award for his film ‘Iruvar’ in 1998 and a special jury award in 2003.

‘Kanchivaram’ has also been chosen as the best film for 2007. Directed by Priyadarshan, the movie depicts the lives of silk-weavers in pre-Independent India.

Adoor Gopalakrishnan bagged the best director award for his Malayalam film, Naalu Pennungal. Umashree has been adjudged the best actress award for her performance in Girish Kasaravalli's Kannada film ‘Gulabi Talkies’.

Taare Zameen Par bagged the best family welfare film title while Shankar Mahadevan bagged the best playback singer for its song, Maa. Prasoon Joshi bagged the best lyrics award for the same song. The best child actor award goes to Sharad Goyekar for his role in the Marathi film ‘Tingya’.

Darshan Zariwala gets the best supporting actor award for his role in Feroz Abbas Khan’s film ‘Gandhi My Father’. ‘Chak De’ gets the award in the wholesome entertainment category and ‘Taare Zameen Par’ in the family welfare category.