Yami Gautam-starrer “Article 370” won best feature film at India’s 72nd National Film Awards, announced Saturday in New Delhi by the country’s Ministry of Information and Broadcasting.
Gautam also took best actress for her role in the film, a political drama centered on the abrogation of Article 370 in Jammu and Kashmir. The film was produced by Jio Studios and B62 Studios and directed by Aditya Suhas Jambhale.
Gautam took best actress for her role in the film. The best actor prize was shared between Mammootty, honored for Malayalam-language “Bramayugam,” and Kartik Aaryan, recognized for Bollywood film “Chandu Champion.” Rajkumar Periasamy won best director for Tamil-language film “Amaran.” Randeep Hooda won best debut director for Bollywood film “Swatantrya Veer Savarkar.” Best actress in a supporting role was shared between Sachana Namidass for the Tamil-language film “Maharaja” and Ropashree Varkady for the Kannada-language film “Mithya.” Sanjay Mishra took best actor in a supporting role for Hindi-language film “Bhakshak.”
Telugu-language blockbuster “Kalki 2898 AD” was named best popular film providing wholesome entertainment, while the Tamil film “Captain Miller” won best feature film promoting national, social and environmental values. The Telugu film “35 – Chinna Katha Kaadu” won best children’s film.
On the non-feature side, “Bhangaar,” a Marathi-English film directed by Sumira Roy, won best non-feature film, and “Ram-Nami,” directed by Bharatbala Ganapathy, took best documentary.
Technical honors were spread widely. Shehnad Jalal won best cinematography for “Bramayugam,” while R. Kalaivannan took best editing for “Amaran.” Best screenplay was split three ways: Bandreddi Sukumar for original screenplay (“Pushpa: The Rule Part 2”), Yogesh Deshpande for adapted screenplay (“Swargandharva Sudhir Phadke”) and Venky Atluri for dialogue (“Lucky Baskhar”). Manas Choudhury won best sound design for “Bhool Bhulaiyaa 3,” and Nitin Zihani Choudhary took best production design for “Kalki 2898 AD.” Best make-up honors went to P. Ravi Kumar for “Committee Kurrollu.” Deepali Noor and Sheetal Sharma shared best costume design for “Pushpa: The Rule Part 2.”
Best music direction went to Shashwat Sachdev for songs in “Article 370” and G.V. Prakash Kumar for background score in “Amaran.” Manoj Muntashir won best lyrics for “Maidaan,” Vijay Ganguly took best choreography for “Stree 2,” and Anl Arasu won best action direction for “Maharaja.” Abhay Jodhpurkar and Vaikom Vijayalakshmi won best male and female playback singer, respectively, for “Gharat Ganpati” and “A.R.M.”
Regional-language honors went to “Juiphool” (Assamese), “Chalchitra Ekhon” (Bengali), “Maaran” (Gujarati), “Srikanth” (Hindi), “Mithya” (Kannada), “Mog Asum” (Konkani), “Feminichi Fathima” (Malayalam), “Sunita” (Manipuri), “Mukkam Post Bombilwadi” (Marathi), “Lahari” (Odia), “Raayan” (Tamil, directed by Dhanush) and “Committee Kurrollu” (Telugu). “Dholi” and “Imbu” won best film honors in Garhwali and Tulu, respectively.
Special mentions in the feature category went to Dhanush for “Captain Miller” and sound mix engineer Suren G. for “Meiyazhagan.”
Elsewhere in the non-feature section, “Kakori” won best biographical/historical reconstruction film, “Main Nida” took best arts/culture film, and “Piplantri: A Tale of Eco Feminism” won for promoting social and environmental values. “Touched as Water,” directed by Joshy Benedict, won best animation film, and “Hamsafar” (Marathi) won best short film. Aanand L. Rai won best direction in the non-feature category for “Statue of Unity – Ekta ka Prateek.” Edmond Ranson won best cinematography for “Life in Loom,” and T.S. Hari Hara Sudhan took best sound design for “Blue.” Special mentions went to “Bhadra-Kali Natakam,” directed by Ananda Jyothi, and “Chola Dora aur Sui,” directed by Jaymin Modi and Lokesh Ghai.
In the Best Writing on Cinema section, Kenchanuru Pradeep Kumar Shetty won the best book prize for “Naaniruvude Nimagaagi Naadiruvude Nanagaagi: Kannada Cinemada Thathva Matthu Rajakeeya,” a Kannada-language work on the philosophy and politics of Kannada cinema, published by Mirror Pusthaka. Sanjeev Shrivastava won best film critic.
The feature film awards were decided by a central jury chaired by Malayalam filmmaker Jayaraj, with separate regional panels feeding into the selection. The non-feature film jury was chaired by Aseem Sinha, and the Best Writing on Cinema jury was chaired by A. Chandrasekhar. Lokesh Ghai, and the Malayalam film “Bhadra-Kali Natakam,” directed by Ananda Jyothi.
