Chennai, Mar 17 (IANS): The 20th Gollapudi Srinivas National Award for the Best Debut Film of 2016 was bagged by Hemanth Rao for his critically-acclaimed Kannada drama "Godhi Banna Sadharana Mykattu", the organisers announced on Friday.

According a statement, the film was selected from 20 nominations across the country from many languages.

The film revolves around Venkob Rao, played fittingly by veteran actor Anant Nag, a middle-aged man who suffers from Alzheimer's disease, going missing. His son embarks on a journey to search for him with a female doctor.

Established in 1998, The Gollapudi Srinivas Memorial Foundation presents the award each year in the memory of Gollapudi Srinivas, a young director, who tragically passed away in an accident during the shoot of his maiden Telugu film in 1992.

The award is announced annually on March 17 and presented on August 12. It includes a cash prize of Rs 150,000.

Over the years, several first-time filmmakers such as Shonali Bose, Aamir Khan, Ram Madhvani and Anusha Rizvi among others have won this award.