India has announced a new national-level film award in memory of renowned filmmaker Satyajit Ray. The decision to institute the award was taken at a meeting India's Information and Broadcasting Minister Prakash Javadekar had with the film fraternity of West Bengal in Kolkata, on Monday.

The announcement of the award comes in the backdrop of Prime Minister Narendra Modi government's attempts to firm up an association with West Bengal, ahead of a fresh assembly poll in the state in April to May. Directors Gautam Ghose, Arindam Sil, Srijit Mukherji, Anik Dutta, Kaushik Ganguly and actors Abir Chatterjee, Roopa Ganguly and Rituparno Sengupta were among those who attended the meeting.

Sil and Ghose have shared the stage with Trinamol Congress Chief and West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee in the past.

 Sil said that discussions were held at the programme on how to develop the Bengali film industry. Actors Rudranil Ghosh and Hiran Chatterjee, both of whom have recently joined the BJP, also attended the meeting.