Article 370 leads India’s National Film Awards winners
Yami Gautam, Kartik Aaryan and Mammootty were among the top acting winners at India’s 72nd National Film Awards in New Delhi.
By Poppy Nakagawa · Culture Writer
3 min read
“Article 370” came out on top at India’s 72nd National Film Awards, taking best feature film as the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting announced the winners Saturday in New Delhi.
The Yami Gautam-led political drama, centered on the scrapping of Article 370 in Jammu and Kashmir, also delivered a best actress win for Gautam, according to the ministry’s announcement.
The best actor award was split between Kartik Aaryan for “Chandu Champion” and Malayalam star Mammootty for “Bramayugam.” Rajkumar Periasamy was named best director for “Amaran.”
In the supporting categories, Sanjay Mishra won best supporting actor for “Bhakshak.” Best supporting actress was shared by Sachana Namidass for “Maharaja” and Rapshree Varkady for “Mithya.”
Big wins across Hindi, Telugu and Tamil cinema
“Srikanth,” starring Rajkummar Rao and directed by Tushar Hiranandani, was chosen as best Hindi-language film. The Telugu hit “Kalki 2898 AD” won best popular film providing wholesome entertainment.
The awards covered films certified by India’s Central Board of Film Certification during 2024. The ministry said an 11-member jury led by Malayalam filmmaker Jayaraj judged the entries. Jayaraj had previously served on the National Film Awards panel in 2012.
The jury considered nearly 400 feature films in 34 languages, including scheduled and non-scheduled languages, according to the announcement.
“Amaran” had a strong run beyond Periasamy’s directing prize. The Tamil-language film also won best editing and shared the best music direction award for feature films with “Article 370.” G.V. Prakash Kumar was recognized for “Amaran,” while Shashwat Sachdev was cited for the score of “Article 370.”
Other craft prizes went to several major 2024 releases. “Pushpa 2: The Rule” won best costume design, “Kalki 2898 AD” added best production design, “Bhool Bhulaiyaa 3” earned best sound design, and “Lucky Baskhar” took best screenplay.
Randeep Hooda was honored as best debut film director for “Swatantrya Veer Savarkar.”
Non-feature prizes and special mentions
In the non-feature section, “Ram-Naami” won best documentary and “Main Nida” was named best arts/culture film. “Piplantri – A Tale of Eco Feminism” won the award for promoting social and environmental values.
“Touched as Water,” directed by Joshy Benedict for JB Productions, won best animation film. Anand L. Rai took best direction in the non-feature category for “Statue of Unity – Ekta Ka Prateek.” The Marathi-language “Humsafar” won best short film.
Further non-feature awards went to “NDA” for editing, “Blue” for sound design, “Life in Loom” for cinematography and “Parat 41°chya Magavar” for music direction.
Faraz Ali won best script for the Hindi-Kashmiri short “Obur,” while Soundarya Jayachandran was honored for narration on “Little Planet: A Tale of Frogs.” Sanjeev Srivastava won best film critic, and Kenchanuru Pradeep Kumar Shetty received the best book award for his Kannada-language work on the philosophy and politics of Kannada cinema.
The ministry also gave special mentions to “Chola Dora aur Sui,” directed by Jaymin Modi and Lokesh Ghai, and the Malayalam film “Bhadra-Kali Natakam,” directed by Ananda Jyothi.
This story draws on original reporting from Variety.