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The political drama “Article 370,” starring Yami Gautam, emerged as the biggest winner at India’s 72nd National Film Awards, taking home the Best Feature Film award, the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting announced on Saturday.
Yami Gautam also won the Best Actress award for her performance in the film, which is based on the Indian government’s decision to revoke Article 370 of the Constitution, ending the special status of Jammu and Kashmir. The film was directed by Aditya Suhas Jambhale and produced by Jio Studios and B62 Studios.
The Best Actor award was shared by veteran Malayalam actor Mammootty for his role in the horror thriller Bramayugam and Bollywood star Kartik Aaryan for his performance in the sports drama Chandu Champion.
Tamil filmmaker Rajkumar Periasamy won the Best Director award for Amaran, while actor-filmmaker Randeep Hooda received the Best Debut Director honour for Swatantrya Veer Savarkar.
In the supporting acting categories, Sachana Namidass won for the Tamil film Maharaja and Ropashree Varkady for the Kannada film Mithya, sharing the Best Supporting Actress award. Sanjay Mishra won Best Supporting Actor for his role in the Hindi film Bhakshak.
The Telugu-language science fiction blockbuster “Kalki 2898 AD” received the award for Best Popular Film Providing Wholesome Entertainment, while the Tamil film “Captain Miller” won the award for Best Feature Film Promoting National, Social and Environmental Values. The Telugu film “35 – Chinna Katha Kaadu” was named Best Children’s Film.
In the non-feature category, Marathi-English film “Bhangaar”, directed by Sumira Roy, won Best Non-Feature Film, while “Ram-Nami”, directed by Bharatbala Ganapathy, received the Best Documentary award.
Several technical awards were also announced. Shehnad Jalal won Best Cinematography for Bramayugam, while R. Kalaivannan received Best Editing for Amaran. The Best Original Screenplay award went to Bandreddi Sukumar for Pushpa: The Rule Part 2. Yogesh Deshpande won Best Adapted Screenplay for Swargandharva Sudhir Phadke, and Venky Atluri received the Best Dialogue award for Lucky Baskhar.
Shashwat Sachdev won Best Music Director (Songs) for Article 370, while G.V. Prakash Kumar was honoured for Best Background Score in Amaran. Other winners included Manoj Muntashir for Best Lyrics (Maidaan), Vijay Ganguly for Best Choreography (Stree 2), and Anl Arasu for Best Action Direction (Maharaja).
Regional cinema also received recognition, with awards going to films in Assamese, Bengali, Gujarati, Hindi, Kannada, Konkani, Malayalam, Manipuri, Marathi, Odia, Tamil and Telugu languages.
The feature film awards were selected by a central jury headed by acclaimed Malayalam filmmaker Jayaraj, while separate juries judged the non-feature films and writing on cinema categories. The National Film Awards are India’s highest official honours for excellence in cinema.
