New Delhi: Eminent filmmaker Shyam Benegal has been awarded the Indira Gandhi Award for National Integration for 2003.

The award comprising a citation and a cash prize of Rs 1.51 lakh would be presented to him by Congress president Sonia Gandhi at a function in New Delhi on October 31, the death anniversary of Indira Gandhi.

Benegal has been chosen for the award by a Committee headed by Gandhi for his "social concern and yeoman contribution towards the cause of communal harmony and national integration through films".

The Award was set up by the Congress in its centenary year and Benegal would be the 19th recipient, Rameshwar Thakur, member-secretary of the Committee, said in a release in New Delhi.