Hindi film Rocketry: The Nambi Effect, which marked the directorial debut of actor R. Madhavan, won the National Award for the best feature film at the 69th National Film Awards announced today (August 24) in Delhi. Vivek Agnihotri’s The Kashmir Files bagged the Nargis Dutt Award for the best feature film on national integration. Pallavi Joshi won the award for the best supporting actress for the same film.
The top acting honours went to Allu Arjun (Pushpa: The Rise Part 1), Alia Bhatt (Gangubai Kathiawadi) and Kriti Sanon (Mimi). Alia and Kriti shared the Award for the best actress. Mimi also brought the best supporting actor Award for Pankaj Tripathi.
The Awards for 2021 were announced by filmmaker Ketan Mehta who was the jury chairman.
Nikhil Mahajan won the Award for the best director for Marathi film Godavari. S.S. Rajamouli’s Telugu film RRR won six Awards, the highest this year. The six Awards are for the best popular film providing wholesome entertainment, best background music direction (M. Keeravani), best male playback singer (to Kaala Bhairava), best special effects (Srinivas Mohan), best stunt choreography (King Soloman) and best choreography (Prem Rakshith). Devi Sri Prasad won the Award for best music director for his score in Telugu film Pushpa: The Rise Part I.
Sanjay Leela Bhansali’s Gangubai Kathiawadi was a close second, with five Awards. Besides the Award for best actress, which Alia Bhatt shared with Kriti Sanon for Mimi, Gangubai Kathiawadi also fetched Awards for Bhansali himself for best editing and best screenplay (adapted) as co-writer with Utkarshini Vashishtha. The best dialogue writer Award was given to Utkarshini Vashishtha and Prakash Kapadia for the same film. Preetisheel Singh won the Award for best make-up for the film.
Shoojit Sircar’s Sardar Udham won the Award for the best Hindi film. It also bagged the Award for best cinematography (Avik Mukhopadhyay), audiography (re-recording or final mixing) (Sinoy Joseph), production design (Dmitri Malich and Mansi Dhruv Mehta), and costume design (Veera Kapur Ee).
The Award for the best original screenplay was won by Shahi Kabir for Malayalam film Nayattu.
Shreya Ghoshal was adjudged the best female playback singer for her Mayava Chaayavaa song from Tamil film Iravin Nizhal. The Award for the best lyrics went to Chandrabose for the Dham Dham Dham song from Telugu film Konda Polam.
Four Marathi films were in the limelight at the National Film Awards for 2021 which were given to films certified and/or released between January 1, 2021 and December 31, 2021. They were Ekda Kaay Zala which won the Award for the best Marathi film, and Godavari which fetched the Award for best director for Nikhil Mahajan. Himanshu Prajapati’s Marathi film Three Two One from the FTII won the Award for the best film on social issues in the non-feature film category. A special jury Award was given to director Shekhar Rankhambe for Marathi film Rekha in the non-feature film category.
Bhavin Rabari was adjudged the best child actor for his performance in Chhello Show. The Award for best audiography (location sound recording) went to Arun Asok and Sonu K.P. for Chavittu (Malayalam). Aneesh Basu bagged the Award for best audiographer (sound designer) for Bengali film Jhilli.
The Awards for the best film in different languages were bagged by: Sardar Udham (Hindi), 777 Charlie (Kannada), Home (Malayalam), Chhello Show (Gujarati), Kadaisi Vivasayi (Tamil), Uppena (Telugu), Samanantar (Maithili), Boomba Ride (Mishing), Ekda Kaay Zala (Marathi), Kalkokkho (Bengali), Anur (Assamese), Eikhoigi Yum (Meiteilon), Pratikshya (Odiya).
The Indira Gandhi Award for best debut film of a director went to Malayalam film Meppadiyan of Vishnu Mohan. Anunaad – The Resonance was adjudged the best film on social issues. Malayalam film Aavasavyuham won the Award for best film on environment conservation/preservation. The Award for best children’s film was won by Gandhi And Co..
A special jury Award was given to Vishnuvardhan’s Shershaah. Special mentions were made of late Nallandi (for Tamil film Kadaisi Vivasayi), Aranya Gupta and Bithan Biswas (for Bengali film Jhilli), Indrans (for Malayalam film Home) and Jahanara Begum (for Assamese film Anur).
The Award for the best book on cinema went to Rajiv Vijaykar for Music By Laxmikant Pyarelal: The Incredibly Melodious Journey.