The 67th National Film Awards that were organised by the Directorate of Film Festivals, a division of the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, were presented at Delhi’s Vigyan Bhawan on Monday.
The winners for the prestigious awards that honoured outstanding achievements in cinema for the year 2019 were announced back in March. The ceremony was supposed to take place last year but was delayed due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
The winners were chosen by the jury from a pool of 461 films in the feature-length category and 220 films in the short film category.
Late actor Sushant Singh Rajput’s last film ‘Chhichhore’ bagged the award for Best Hindi Film whereas Kangana Ranaut received the Best Actress award for her films ‘Panga’ and ‘Manikarnika: The Queen of Jhansi’.
The National Award for Best Actor was shared between Manoj Bajpayee for ‘Bhonsle’ and Dhanush for ‘Asuran’. Malayalam superstar Mohanlal’s war epic ‘Marakkar: Lion of the Arabian Sea’, which is yet to be released in theatres, won the Best Feature Film. Here is the complete list of winners for the 67th National Film Awards.
Feature Film Awards
Best Feature Film: ‘Marakkar: Lion of the Arabian Sea’ (Malayalam)
Best Actress: Kangana Ranaut for ‘Panga’ (Hindi) and ‘Manikarnika: The Queen of Jhansi’ (Hindi)
Best Supporting Actress: Pallavi Joshi for ‘The Tashkent Files’ (Hindi)
Best Supporting Actor: Vijay Sethupathi for ‘Super Deluxe’ (Tamil)
Best Director: Sanjay Puran Singh Chauhan for ‘Bahattar Hoorain’ (Hindi)
Best Debut Film of a Director: Mathukutty Xavier for ‘Helen’ (Malayalam)
Best Child Artist: Naga Vishal for ‘KD’ (Tamil)
Best Action Direction: ‘Avane Srimannarayana’ (Kannada), Vikram Mor
Best Choreography: ‘Maharishi’ (Telugu), Raju Sundaram
Best Special Effects: ‘Marakkar: Lion of the Arabian Sea’ (Malayalam), Siddharth Priyadarshan
Special Jury Award: ‘Oththa Seruppu Size 7’ (Tamil), Radhakrishnan Parthiban
Best Lyrics: Prabha Varma for ‘Kolaambi’ (Malayalam)
Best Music Direction: D. Imman for ‘Viswasam’ (Tamil)
Best Background Music: Prabuddha Banerjee for ‘Jyeshthoputro’ (Bengali)
Best Make-up Artist: Ranjith for ‘Helen’ (Malayalam)
Best Costumes: Sujith Sudhakaran and V. Sai for ‘Marakkar: Lion of the Arabian Sea’ (Malayalam)
Best Production Design: ‘Anandi Gopal’ (Marathi), Sunil Nigwekar and Nilesh Wagh
Best Audiography (Location Sound Recordist): ‘Iewduh’ (Khasi), Debajit Gayan
Best Audiography (Re-recordist of final mixed track): ‘Oththa Seruppu Size 7’ (Tamil), Resul Pookutty
Best Screenplay (Original): ‘Jyeshthoputro’ (Bengali), Kaushik Ganguly
Best Screenplay (Adapted): ‘Gumnaami’ (Bengali), Srijit Mukherji
Best Screenplay (Dialogue Writer): ‘The Tashkent Files’ (Hindi), Vivek Ranjan Agnihotri
Best Cinematography: ‘Jallikattu’ (Malayalam), Gireesh Gangadharan
Best Editing: ‘Jersey’ (Telugu), Navin Nooli
Best Children’s Film: ‘Kastoori’ (Hindi)
Best Film on Environment Conservation: ‘Water Burial’ (Monpa)
Best Film on Social Issues: ‘Anandi Gopal’ (Marathi)
Best Film on National Integration: ‘Tajmahal’ (Marathi)
Best Popular Film Providing Wholesome Entertainment: ‘Maharishi’ (Telugu)
Best Female Playback Singer: Savani Ravindra for ‘Bardo’ (Marathi)
Best Male Playback Singer: B Praak for ‘Kesari’ (Hindi)
Best Films in Each Language
Best Hindi Film: ‘Chhichhore’
Best Telugu Film: ‘Jersey’
Best Malayalam Film: ‘Kalla Nottam’
Best Tamil Film: ‘Asuran’
Best Paniya Film: ‘Kenjira’
Best Mishing Film: ‘Anu Ruwad’
Best Khasi Film: ‘Iewduh’
Best Chattisgarhi Film: ‘Bhulan the Maze’
Best Haryanvi Film: ‘Chhoriyan Chhoron Se Kam Nahi Hoti’
Best Tulu Film: ‘Pingara’
Best Punjabi Film: ‘Rab Da Radio 2’
Best Odia Film: Kalira Atita and Sala Budhar Badla (shared)
Best Manipuri Film: Eigi Kona
Best Marathi Film: Bardo
Best Konkani Film: Kaajro
Best Kannada Film: Akshi
Best Bengali Film: Gumnaami
Best Assamese Film: Ronuwa – Who Never Surrender
Special Mentions: Biriyani (Malayalam), Jonaki Porua (Assamese), Lata Bhagwan Kare (Marathi) and Picasso (Marathi)
Non-Feature Film Awards
Best Voice-over/ Narration: Sir David Attenborough for ‘Wild Karnataka’ (English)
Best Music Direction: Bishakhjyoti for ‘Kranti Darshi Guruji – Ahead of Times’ (Hindi)
Best Editing: Arjun Gourisaria for ‘Shut Up Sona’ (Hindi/ English)
Best Audiography: ‘Radha’ (Musical), Allwin Rego and Sanjay Maurya
Best On-Location Sound Recordist: ‘Rahas’ (Hindi), Saptarshi Sarkar
Best Cinematography: Savita Singh for ‘Sonsi’ (Hindi)
Best Direction: Sudhanshu Saria for ‘Knock Knock Knock’ (English/ Bengali)
Best Film on Family Values: ‘Oru Paathira Swapnam Pole’ (Malayalam)
Best Short Fiction Film: ‘Custody’ (Hindi/ English)
Special Jury Award: ‘Small Scale Societies’ (English)
Best Animation Film: ‘Radha’ (Musical)
Best Investigative Film: ‘Jakkal’ (Marathi)
Best Exploration Film: ‘Wild Karnataka’ (English)
Best Educational Film: ‘Apples and Oranges’ (English)
Best Film on Social Issues: ‘Holy Rights’ (Hindi) and ‘Ladli’ (Hindi)
Best Environment Film: ‘The Stork Saviours’ (Hindi)
Best Promotional Film: ‘The Shower’ (Hindi)
Best Arts and Culture Film: ‘Shrikshetra-Ru-Sahijata’ (Odia)
Best Biographical Film: ‘Elephants Do Remember’ (English)
Best Ethnographic Film: ‘Charan-Atva The Essence of Being a Nomad’ (Gujarati)
Best Debut Non-Feature Film of a Director: ‘Raj Pritam More for Khisa’ (Marathi)
Best Non-Feature Film: ‘An Engineered Dream’ (Hindi)
Other Awards
Most Film Friendly State: Sikkim
Best Book on Cinema: ‘A Gandhian Affair: India’s Curious Portrayal of Love in Cinema’, by Sanjay Suri
Best Film Critic: Sohini Chattopadhyay
One of the country’s most eminent awards in entertainment, the 67th version of the National Film Awards, which were handed out to the awardees by Vice President Venkaiah Naidu, was initially going to be held in May last year but had to be delayed due to the COVID-19 pandemic. (ANI)
