Article 370 emerged as the biggest winner at the 72nd National Film Awards of India, taking home the Best Feature Film award, while Yami Gautam was named Best Actress and Kartik Aaryan and Malayalam superstar Mammootty shared the Best Actor honour.
The awards, recognising excellence in Indian cinema for 2024, were announced at a press conference in New Delhi on Saturday, honouring outstanding achievements across feature and non-feature films in multiple Indian languages.
Yami Gautam won the Best Actress award for her performance in Article 370, which also secured awards for Best Feature Film and Best Background Music, composed by Shashwat Sachdev.
Kartik Aaryan received the Best Actor award for his role in the Hindi film Chandu Champion, sharing the honour with Mammootty for his acclaimed performance in the Malayalam film Bramayugam.
Tamil filmmaker Rajkumar Periasamy was named Best Director for Amaran, while Srikanth won the award for Best Hindi Film.
Science-fiction epic Kalki 2898 AD won Best Popular Film Providing Wholesome Entertainment and Best Production Design. Pushpa: The Rule Part 2 earned two awards for Best Costume Design and Best Screenplay.
Among regional cinema winners, Raayan was named Best Tamil Film, Committee Kurrollu won Best Telugu Film, Feminichi Fathima was selected as Best Malayalam Film, Mithya won Best Kannada Film, Chalvhitra Ekhon claimed Best Bengali Film, while Mukkam Post Bombilwadi took the Best Marathi Film award.
In the technical categories, Shehnad Jalal won Best Cinematography for Bramayugam, R. Kalaivannan received Best Editing for Amaran, and Manas Choudhury won Best Sound Design for Bhool Bhulaiyaa 3.
Sanjay Mishra was named Best Supporting Actor for Bhakshak, while Sachana Namidass won Best Supporting Actress for the Tamil film Maharaja.
The Best Children's Film award went to 35 – Chinna Katha Kaadu, while Captain Miller received the honour for Best Film Promoting National or Social Values. Swatantrya Veer Savarkar was recognised as Best Debut Film.
In the music categories, Vaikom Vijayalakshmi won Best Female Playback Singer for the Malayalam song Angu Vaana Konilu from A.R.M., while Abhay Jodhpurkar received the Best Male Playback Singer award for the Marathi song Navasachi Gauri Mazi from Gharat Ganpati.
The awards also recognised achievements in non-feature films. Bhangaar (Obsolete) won Best Non-Fiction Film, while Ram-Nami was named Best Documentary Film. Marathi short film Hamsafar received the Best Short Film award, and Touched As Water won Best Animation Film.
Piplantri: A Tale of Eco Feminism was honoured as the Best Non-Feature Film Promoting Social and Environmental Values, while filmmaker Aanand L. Rai won Best Direction in the non-feature category for Statue of Unity: Ekta Ka Prateek.
The National Film Awards are India's highest official recognition for cinematic excellence and celebrate achievements across mainstream, regional and independent filmmaking.
Source: NDTV