NEW DELHI: A political thriller on the removal of Jammu and Kashmir’s special status won Best Feature Film. A biopic of V D Savarkar brought its actor-director the award for Best Debut Director. A Tamil film on an Army officer killed in Kashmir took Best Direction. Another film set during the freedom struggle won for promoting national and social values.But the 72nd National Film Awards also travelled far beyond the corridors of power and the battlefield. They entered a century-old Mumbai chawl, where an elderly couple who had spent more than five decades together sought the right to die. They went to a Rajasthan village that plants 111 trees whenever a girl is born, to a Kerala home where a woman begins resisting the rules imposed on her, and to the Ramnami community of Chhattisgarh, whose members wrote Ram’s name on their bodies after caste barriers kept them outside temples. The result was a split-screen picture of the cinema of 2024 — the nation viewed through governments, soldiers and historical figures on one side, and through private struggles for dignity and freedom on the other.The Ministry of Information and Broadcasting announced the awards in New Delhi on Saturday. The honours cover feature films, non-feature films and writing on cinema for 2024. The results were declared by feature-film jury chairperson Jayaraj, non-feature jury chairperson Aseem Sinha and writing-on-cinema jury chairperson A Chandrasekhar.Article 370 won Best Feature Film, with the Swarna Kamal going to producers Jio Studios and B62 Studios and director Aditya Suhas Jambhale. Yami Gautam was named Best Actress for playing an intelligence officer in the film, while Shashwat Sachdev won Best Music Direction for its songs.The film is built around the Centre’s August 2019 decision to remove Jammu and Kashmir’s special constitutional status. Its success places recent political history at the top of this year’s awards, but it was not a one-film sweep. Article 370, Tamil film Amaran and Kannada film Mithya figured in three award categories each.Amaran, based on the life of Major Mukund Varadarajan, won Rajkumar Periasamy Best Direction. R Kalaivannan received the editing award and G V Prakash Kumar won Best Background Music. Varadarajan, an Indian Army officer, was killed during a counter-terrorism operation in Shopian in 2014 and was posthumously awarded the Ashok Chakra. Mithya was named Best Kannada Film. Ropashree Varkady shared the Supporting Actress award for the film, while Athish S Shetty was among five performers sharing the Child Artist honour.The political and historical line continued with Swatantrya Veer Savarkar, which won Randeep Hooda the award for Best Debut Film of a Director. The Tamil historical action drama Captain Miller, set under British rule, was named Best Feature Film Promoting National, Social and Environmental Values. Dhanush also received a Special Mention for his performance in the film. In the non-feature section, Kakori, directed by Kamlesh K Mishra, won Best Biographical, Historical Reconstruction or Compilation Film. Aanand L Rai received Best Direction for Statue of Unity — Ekta ka Prateek. Together, the choices gave prominent space to constitutional change, military sacrifice, the freedom movement and national symbols.The Best Actor award, however, brought together two strikingly different performances. Mammootty won for Bramayugam, playing the sinister master of an isolated mansion in a black-and-white world shaped by folklore, fear and power. Kartik Aaryan shared the honour for Chandu Champion, in which he portrayed soldier-turned-para athlete Murlikant Petkar.The contrast could hardly have been sharper. Mammootty’s performance relied on menace, stillness and an ageing star’s willingness to appear deeply unsettling. Aaryan’s role was built around physical change, training and the long journey of a wounded soldier who became India’s first Paralympic gold medallist.The visual world of Bramayugam also found recognition, with Shehnad Jalal winning Best Cinematography. The film’s stark light and shadow turned its crumbling mansion into more than a setting — it became part of the fear surrounding Mammootty’s character.Gautam’s award was her first National Film Award. Her win also gave Article 370 two of the most visible honours of the year — Best Film and Best Actress — apart from the music prize.Sanjay Mishra won Best Supporting Actor for Bhakshak. The Supporting Actress honour was shared by Sachana Namidass for Maharaja and Varkady for Mithya. Maharaja also won Best Action Direction for stunt choreographer Anl Arasu.Telugu science-fiction film Kalki 2898 AD was named Best Popular Film Providing Wholesome Entertainment. Its imagined future also brought Nitin Zihani Choudhary the award for Production Design. Telugu film 35—Chinna Katha Kaadu won Best Children’s Film, while its Arundev Pothula shared the Child Artist prize.The Child Artist award was divided among five children from three films — Shetty for Mithya, Pothula for 35—Chinna Katha Kaadu, and Riddhiman Banerjee, Tapomoy Deb and Gitashree Chakraborty for the Bengali film Onko Ki Kothin.Beyond the feature-film spectacle, the non-feature awards supplied some of the most human stories.Sumira Roy’s Marathi-English Bhangaar was named Best Non-Feature Film. It follows Irawati and Narayan Lavate, a Mumbai couple who had lived together for over 53 years in a small room in a century-old chawl. Their joint appeal for euthanasia placed questions of ageing, dependence and the right to make decisions about one’s own life inside the cramped space they called home. Piplantri: A Tale of Eco Feminism, directed by Suraj Kumar, won Best Non-Feature Film Promoting Social and Environmental Values. The documentary looks at the Rajasthan village known for planting 111 trees to mark the birth of every girl, turning what began as a local initiative into a link between daughters, water conservation and the repair of a scarred landscape.Best Documentary went to Bharatbala Ganapathy’s Ram-Nami. It records the distinctive faith of Chhattisgarh’s Ramnami community. Members of the community, historically barred from temples because of caste, placed Ram’s name on their bodies and clothes, making their faith visible in a form that could not be controlled by temple walls or gatekeepers.The award for Best Malayalam Film went to Fasil Muhammed’s Feminichi Fathima. Set in Ponnani, it follows a homemaker living under her husband’s strict control. The immediate argument is over replacing an old mattress, but that small domestic dispute gradually becomes a larger fight over money, choice and dignity. The film’s resistance grows through everyday decisions rather than grand speeches.These films gave the awards a second, quieter political current. Where the principal winners dealt with the state, wars and public history, Bhangaar, Piplantri, Ram-Nami and Feminichi Fathima asked who has control over a body, a household, a place of worship or the life of a girl.Among the craft awards, Pushpa: The Rule Part 2 won original screenplay for Sukumar and costume design for Deepali Noor and Sheetal Sharma. Yogesh Deshpande won adapted screenplay for the Marathi film Swargandharva Sudhir Phadke, while Venky Atluri received the dialogue-writing award for Lucky Baskhar.Bhool Bhulaiyaa 3 won Best Sound Design for Manas Choudhury. Vijay Ganguly took Best Choreography for “Aaj Ki Raat” from Stree 2, while Manoj Muntashir won Best Lyrics for “Jaane Do” from Maidaan.Abhay Jodhpurkar was named Best Male Playback Singer for “Navasachi Gauri Mazi” from the Marathi film Gharat Ganpati. Vaikom Vijayalakshmi won the female playback award for “Angu Vaana Konilu” from the Malayalam film A R M.The language-film awards went to Juiphool in Assamese, Chalchitra Ekhon in Bengali, Maaran in Gujarati, Srikanth in Hindi, Mithya in Kannada, Mog Asum in Konkani, Feminichi Fathima in Malayalam, Sunita in Manipuri, Mukkam Post Bombilwadi in Marathi, Lahari in Odia, Raayan in Tamil and Committee Kurrollu in Telugu.Two films in languages outside the Constitution’s Eighth Schedule were also honoured: Dholi won Best Garhwali Film and IMBU Best Tulu Film.In non-feature cinema, Ravi Raj Murmu won Best Debut Director for the Santhali film Angen. Main Nida was named Best Arts and Culture Film, Touched as Water won Best Animation Film and Marathi film Hamsafar was selected as Best Short Film.Awards also went to Life in Loom for cinematography, Blue for sound design, NDA for editing, Parat 41°chya Magavar for music, Little Planet: A Tale of Frogs for narration and Obur for script. Bhadra-Kali Natakam and Chola Dora aur Sui received Special Mentions.In writing on cinema, Kenchanuru Pradeep Kumar Shetty won Best Book for his Kannada work Naaniruvude Nimagaagi Naadiruvude Nanagaagi: Kannada Cinemada Thathva matthu Rajakeeya. Sanjeev Shrivastava was named Best Film Critic in Hindi.The awards’ most visible choices were rooted in recent politics, military memory and the freedom struggle. But their wider picture of India came from less imposing places: an old couple sharing one small room, a woman asking to replace a mattress, a village welcoming a daughter with 111 trees, and a community carrying the name of its god on its skin.
