President confers 70th National Film Awards; Mithun Chakraborty receives Dadasaheb Phalke Award

Among the awardees were the Best Feature Film “Aattam (The Play)”, a Malayalam film directed by Anand Ekarshi; Best Non-Feature Film “Ayena (Mirror)”, directed by Siddhant Sarin; Rishab Shetty as Best Actor in a Leading Role for his performance in “Kantara” (Kannada)

President Droupadi Murmu on Tuesday (October 8, 2024) gave away the 70^th National Film Awards to the winners in various categories. Veteran actor Mithun Chakraborty was honoured with the Dadasaheb Phalke Lifetime Achievement Award for the year 2022.

Speaking on the occasion, Ms. Murmu observed that only 15 of the 85 awardees were women. She said more efforts could be made to ensure women-led development in the film industry. “I believe that films and social media are a great tool to bring about a change in society,” she said.

Among those present on the occasion were Information & Broadcasting Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw, and Union Minister of State for I&B L. Murugan. Mr. Vaishnaw announced that the government would set up Indian Institute of Creative Technology (IICT) in Mumbai on the lines of IITs and IIMs. It will focus on developing creative skills and knowledge.

Among the awardees were the Best Feature Film “Aattam (The Play)”, a Malayalam film directed by Anand Ekarshi; Best Non-Feature Film “Ayena (Mirror)”, directed by Siddhant Sarin; Rishab Shetty as Best Actor in a Leading Role for his performance in “Kantara” (Kannada); and Nithya Menen for her portrayal in “Thiruchitrambalam” (Tamil) and Manasi Parekh for “Kutch Express” (Gujarati) jointly as Best Actress in a Leading Role. The Best Direction award went to Sooraj R. Barjatya for Hindi film “Uunchai”.

Some of the other award winners included “Brahmastra - Part 1: Shiva” in the Best Film in Animation, Visual Effects, Gaming & Comic category; “Kantara” for Best Popular Film Providing Wholesome Entertainment; and “Kishore Kumar: The Ultimate Biography” for Best Book on Cinema.

“Aattam” was also awarded for being the best in Editing (Mahesh Bhuvanend) category and for Screenplay (Anand Ekarshi) jointly with Hindi film “Gulmohar” (Arpita Mukherjee and Rahul V. Chittella); and the Best Choreography award went to Sathish Krishnan for his work in “Thiruchitrambalam”. “Gulmohar” got the Best Hindi Film award as well, while Niki Joshi won the Best Costume Designer award for “Kutch Express”.

Pavan Raj Malhotra won the Best Supporting Actor award for “Fouja” (Haryanvi) and Neena Gupta the Best Supporting Actress Award for “Uunchai: Zenith” (Hindi) in the Feature Films category. “Fouja” was also adjudged the best in the Debut Film category.

The Best Production Design award went Ananda Addhya for “Aparajito: The Undefeated” (Bengali), which also got the award for Best Make-up (Somnath Kundu); and the Best Lyrics award went to Naushad Sadar Khan for his work in “Fouja”.

A. R. Rahman got the Best Music Director (background music) award for Mani Ratnam’s “Ponnyin Selvan-Part 1” (Tamil), which has also been selected as the best Tamil film and for Best Cinematography (Ravi Varman) and Best Sound Design (Anand Krishnamoorthi); and Pritam the Best Music Director (songs) award. Arijit Singh was adjudged the best male playback singer (song: “Kesariya”) for “Brahmastra-Part 1: Shiva”. The Best Female Playback Singer award went to Padma Shri awardee Bombay Jayashri for “Chaayum Veyil” in “Saudi Vellaka CC 225/2009”, which also got the Best Malayalam Film award.

Anbumani and Arivumani, jointly known as Anbariv, have been given the award for Best Action Direction (stunt choreography). Sreepath got the Best Child Artist award for “Malikapurram” (Malayalam). Filmmaker Vishal Bhardwaj won in the Best Music Director award for short film “Fursat”. The Best Film Critic award went to Deepak Dua, while Murmurs Of The Jungle (Marathi) has got the award for Best Documentary.

Published - October 08, 2024 06:26 pm IST