The shutterbugs went into overdrive when presented with an opportunity to catch business tycoons Lakshmi Mittal and Ratan Tata in a friendly handshake at the second Padma Awards ceremony in New Delhi on Saturday, where President Pratibha Patil [Images] conferred awards to 58 recipients.

Both Tata and Mittal told rediff.com that they are good friends and that there was no rivalery between them.

Those who received awards included film actress Madhuri Dixit [Images], world chess champion Vishwanathan Anand, Dr E Sreedharan, the brain behind Delhi metro, Prof Dr Padma Desai, captain of Indian football team Baichung Butia, journnalist Barkha Dutt, film maker Manoj Night Shyamalan, actor Tom Alter, environmentalist Dr Rajinder Kumar Pauchari and former union home secretary K Padmanabhaiah.

Shyamalan, flanked by his two daughters, wife and relatives seemed surprised at being selected for the prestigious award. "Believe me, I was totally surprised when I knew I was being honoured," he told rediff.com.

Speaking on the popularity of chess in India, world champion and Padma awardee Vishwanathan Anand said, "Now there is little bit of money in chess, but I would like it to improve further". He went on to say that he was looking forward to a short rest from chess.