President confers 72nd National Film Awards in Gujarat

President Droupadi Murmu on Tuesday conferred the 72nd National Film Awards for 2024 on top talents of Indian cinema, with veteran Kannada actor Anant Nag receiving the prestigious Dadasaheb Phalke honour, and Yami Gautam, Mammootty and Kartik Aaryan as best actors. Hindi feature film Article 370, directed by Aditya Suhas Jambhale, received the Best Feature Film award.

The winners of the 72nd National Film Awards were announced earlier and received their awards from the President on Tuesday at Ekta Nagar in Gujarat’s Narmada district, with the Statue of Unity providing a magnificent backdrop.

Actor-turned-director Randeep Hooda received the Best Debut Film of a Director award for Swatantrya Veer Savarkar, while Rajkumar Periasamy received the Best Direction award for the Tamil movie Amaran.

Yami Gautam received the Best Actress in a Leading Role award for Article 370, while Mammootty and Kartik Aaryan shared the Best Actor in a Leading Role award for Bramayugam and Chandu Champion, respectively.

Bhangaar, directed and produced by Sumira Roy, received the Best Non-Feature Film award, which was accepted by Roy.

Sanjeev Shrivastava received the Best Film Critic award in Hindi from the President.

Sachana Namidass received the Best Actress in a Supporting Role award for the Tamil movie Maharaja, while Ropashree Varkady received the second Best Actress in a Supporting Role award for the Kannada movie Mithya.

Maaran, directed by Abhishek Jain, received the Best Gujarati Film award.

Telugu film Pushpa: The Rule Part-02 received the Best Costume Design award, while Bandreddi Sukumar received the Best Screenplay award for the film.

R Kalaivannan received the Best Editing award for the Tamil movie Amaran.

Manoj Muntashir received the Best Lyrics award for the song “Jaane Do” from the movie Maidaan.

Bollywood actor Sanjay Mishra received the Best Actor in a Supporting Role award for Bhakshak.

Abhay Jodhpurkar received the Best Male Playback Singer award for “Navasachi Gauri Mazi” from the Marathi feature film Gharat Ganpati, while Vaikom Vijayalakshmi received the Best Female Playback Singer award for the “Angu Vaana Konilu” song in the Malayalam movie ARM.

Shashwat Sachdev received the Best Music Direction award for songs in Article 370, while G V Prakash Kumar was honoured for the background music of Amaran.

In all, Article 370 received three National Film Awards, including Best Feature Film, Best Actress and Best Music Direction.

Vijay Ganguly received the Best Choreography award for “Aaj Ki Raat” from Stree 2. The awards recognise achievements in Indian cinema across feature films, non-feature films and writings on cinema.