Pushpa The Rise, Sardar Udham, Chhelo Show, RRR, The Kashmir Files and Gangubai Kathiawadi emerged as some of the winners at the National Film Awards announced on Thursday last week by the 69th National Film Awards 2023 Committee in India.
While Allu Arjun bagged the Best Actor award for the film Pushpa: The Rise, Alia Bhatt and Kriti Sanon shared the award for Best Actress for the films Gangubai Kathiawadi and Mimi respectively. Rocketry: The Nambi Effect won the award for Best Feature Film. The Kashmir Files won the Nargis Dutt Award for Best Film on National Integration at the 69th National Film Awards.
Shoojit Sircar’s biographical historical drama Sardar Udham won several awards at the 69th National Film Awards. Apart from being named the Best Hindi Film, it also bagged Best Cinematography (Avik Mukhopadhyay), Best Audiography (Sinoy Joseph), Best Production Design (Dmitrii Malich and Mansi Dhruv Mehta) and Best Costume Design (Veera Kapur Ee) awards.
National Film Awards are the most prestigious awards, which are announced annually to honour the best filmmaking talent across the country. According to the Directorate of Film Festivals of the Union Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, the National Film Awards “aim at encouraging the production of films of aesthetic and technical excellence and social relevance.”
The awards were first handed out in 1954 and were known as the ‘State Awards’. At the time, only best films in different regional languages were recognised and awarded. The awards for actors and technicians working on the films were first given in 1967. Nargis was the first actor to win Best Actress for her performance in Raat Aur Din. Uttam Kumar won the Best Actor award for Antony Firingee and Chiriyakhana in the same year.
At the 68th National Film Awards, Tamil film Soorarai Pottru won in five categories – Best Feature Film, Best Actor for Suriya, Best Actress for Aparna Balamurali, Best Music Direction (Score) for G V Prakash Kumar, and Best Original Screenplay for Sudha Kongara, who also directed the film. Suriya shared his Best Actor win with Ajay Devgn, who won the awards for Tanhaji. Asha Parekh was honoured with the Dadasaheb Phalke Award in 2022.
