S.S. Rajamouli‘s “RRR” was the big winner at India’s annual National Film Awards with six honors, while actor R. Madhavan’s directorial debut “Rocketry” won best film. Nikhil Mahajan won best director for “Godavari.”
“RRR,” which has already won an Oscar and a Golden Globe, won the award for popular film, male singer for Kaala Bhairava, background score for M.M. Keeravani, special effects for Srinivas Mohan, choreography for Prem Rakshith and action direction for King Solomon.
Allu Arjun won best actor for “Pushpa: The Rise – Part 1” and the film also won the best songs award for Devi Sri Prasad. Alia Bhatt and Kriti Sanon shared the best actress prize for “Gangubai Kathiawadi” and “Mimi” respectively, while Pankaj Tripathi won supporting actor for the latter film.
“Gangubai Kathiawadi” also won adapted screenplay, dialog for Sanjay Leela Bhansali, Utkarshini Vashishtha and Prakash Kapadia, editing for Bhansali and makeup for Preetisheel Singh D’souza.
Pallavi Joshi won supporting actress for”The Kashmir Files” and the film also won the best film on national integration award, named for late actress Nargis Dutt. Bhavin Rabari won best child actor for Pan Nalin’s “Last Film Show,” which was India’s entry to the Oscars in the international feature category and it also won best Gujarati-language film.
Vishnu Mohan’s “Meppadian” won best debut film and Reema Borah’s “Anunaad – The Resonance” best film on social issues. Vishnuvardhan’s “Shershaah” won the special jury award. Srishti Lakhera’s “Ek Tha Gaon” won best non-feature film.
Shahi Kabir won best original screenplay for “Nayattu.”
Avik Mukhopadhayay won best cinematography for “Sardar Udham” and it also won best Hindi-language film, sound designer for Aneesh Basu, final mixing for Sinoy Joseph, costume design for Veera Kapur Ee and production design for Dmitrii Malich and Mansi Dhruv Mehta. Arun Asok and Sonu K.P. won the location sound award for “Chavittu” and “Jhilli” respectively. Chandrabose won best lyrics for “Konda Polam.”
The awards are for the 2021-22 period.
India’s Minister for Information and Broadcasting Anurag Thakur said: “It was a very tough competition between all the films in every category. My congratulations and best wishes are with the winners. Today India is the largest film maker in the world. We have the potential to become the content hub of the world. This is our time. Today our films are being recognized all over the world, be it BAFTA or the Oscars.”
