With Shah Rukh Khan, Rani Mukerji and Vikrant Massey winning the awards for best actors, Hindi cinema dominated the 71st National Film Awards for 2023, announced by jury head Ashutosh Gowariker on August 1 in New Delhi at a press conference held by the I & B ministry. Shah Rukh won the National Award — his career’s first — for Jawan, alongside Vikrant Massey who bagged it for 12th Fail. Rani Mukerji was named the best actress for her role in Mrs. Chatterjee Vs Norway. Like SRK, these awards were also the first National Awards for Rani and Vikrant.
12th Fail also bagged the award for the best feature film. Sudipto Sen was adjudged the best director for The Kerala Story which also got the award for the best cinematography (Prasanthanu Mohapatra). Rocky Aur Rani Kii Prem Kahaani won the award for the best popular film providing wholesome entertainment.
The awards for 2023 are given to films certified by the CBFC from January 1, 2023 to December 31, 2023.
Meghna Gulzar’s Sam Bahadur was adjudged the best film promoting national, social and environmental values. It also won the award in the best make-up (Shrikant Desai) and costume design (Sachin, Divya and Nidhi) categories. Netflix, Guneet Monga and Ekta Kapoor’s Sanya Malhotra starrer, Kathal: A Jackfruit Mystery, was named the best Hindi film. Kathal is directed by Yashowardhan Mishra and written jointly by him and his father, Ashok Mishra.
Shilpa Rao bagged the award for the best female playback singer for the Chaleya song from Jawan. Rohit bagged the award for the best male playback singer for Premisthunna for Telugu film Baby. Vaibhavi Merchant won the best choreography award for the Dhindhora baaje song from Rocky Aur Rani Kii Prem Kahaani.
Regional cinema ruled the roost in the technical segment and also for awards in the supporting artistes’ categories. Tamil film Parking (Ramkumar Balakrishnan) and Telugu film Baby (Sai Rajesh) shared the award for the best screenplay. Parking, directed by first-timer Ramkumar Balakrishnan, also won the award for the best Tamil film and for the best supporting actor for M.S. Bhaskar. The best supporting actor award was shared by M.S. Bhaskar with Vijayaraghavan (for Malayalam film Pookkaalam). The award for the best supporting actress was also shared by two — Urvashi (for Malayalam film Ullozhukku) and Janki Bodiwala (for Gujarati film Vash). Vash also won the award for the best Gujarati film. The award for the best dialogues went to Deepak Kingrani for Vinod Bhanushali and Zee5’s Sirf Ek Bandaa Kaafi Hai.
Sandeep Reddy Vanga’s Animal bagged two National Awards and a special mention: for the best background score (Harshavardhan Rameshwar), best sound design (Sachin Sudhakaran and Hariharan Muralidharan), and best re-recording (M.R. Rajakrishnan; special mention).
The award for the best debut film of a director went to Ashish Bende for his Marathi film Aatmapamphlet.
The best action award went to Nandu Prudhvi for HanuMan. HanuMan also bagged the award for the best film in the AVGC (Animation, Visual effects, Gaming and Comics) category. G.V. Prakash Kumar bagged the award for the best music director for Vaathi (Malayalam). Kasarla Shyam won the award for the best lyrics for Ooru Palleturu (Telugu film Balagam). Mohandas got the award for the best production design for his work in Malayalam film 2018. The best editor award went to Midhun Murali for Pookkaalam (Malayalam).
The award for the best child artiste was shared by Sukriti Bandireddi (Telugu film Gandhi Tatha Chettu), Kabir Khandare (Marathi film Gypsy), Treesha Toshar, Shrinivas Pokale and Bhargav Jagtap (all three for Marathi film Naal 2). Naal 2 (Marathi) also bagged the award for the best children’s film.
Godday Godday Chaa won the award for the best Punjabi film. The award for the best Marathi film went to Shyamchi Aai.