National Film Awards: Assamese film ‘Village Rockstars’ gets top honours

Assamese director Rima Das’s coming-of-age drama Village Rockstars on Friday won the National Award for best feature film. The movie also won awards for best editing (Das), audiography (Mallika Das) and child artist (Bhanita Das).

Sridevi was posthumously awarded best actress for Ravi Udyawar’s rape-revenge drama Mom. Bengali actor Riddhi Sen won best actor for his performance in Kaushik Ganguly’s queer drama Nagarkirtan. The Dadasaheb Phalke award was conferred on veteran actor Vinod Khanna for his contribution to Indian cinema.

The 65th National Film Awards, organised by the government’s Directorate of Film and Festivals, were announced in Delhi by jury head Shekhar Kapur. The 10-member panel included writers Imtiaz Hussain and Tripurari Sharma, directors Aniruddha Roy Chowdhury and Rajesh Mapuskar, and actress Gauthami. The ceremony will be held on May 3.

The best director award went to Jayaraj for the Malayalam drama Bhayanakam, an adaptation of two chapters from Thakazhi Shivashankara Pillai’s epic Kayar. Jayaraj also won the award for Best Adapted Screenplay. Meanwhile Fahad Faasil won for his supporting role in Thondimuthalum Driksakshiyum, which was also selected Best Malayalam Film and Best Original Screenplay. Divya Dutta was selected best supporting actress for Irada, which also won Best Film on Environmental Conservation.

Dhappa won the award for Best film on National Integration, while Alurakkam, the story of an old man abandoned by his son, was awarded Best Film on Social Issues.

The awards also recognised Jeseri, a little-known language spoken in Lakshadweep. Sinjar, directed by Pampally, won the award for Best Jeseri Film.

Walking with the Wind was selected best Ladakhi film. The movie also won awards for sound design and re-recording. Amit Masurkar’s Newton (Hindi), Prasad Oak’s Kachha Limbu (Marathi), Chezhiyan’s To Let (Tamil), Sankalp Reddy’s Ghazi (Telugu), Atanu Ghosh’s Mayurakshi (Bengali), Manish Saini’s Dhh (Gujarati), Abhaya Simha’s Paddayi (Tulu), Nanjunde Gowda’s Hebbet Ramakka (Kannada) and Utpal Borpujari’s Ishu (Assamese) won the awards for best film in the respective languages.

AR Rahman won a National Award for the fifth year, winning Best Music Director for Mani Ratnam’s Kaatru Veliyidai and a prize for background score for Mom. Ganesh Acharya won for choreography for Gori Toh Lathh Mar from the Akshay Kumar-starrer Toilet: Ek Prem Katha.

SS Rajamouli’s Baahubali: The Conclusion was awarded best popular film. It also won awards for action direction and special effects. Special Mention awards were presented to director Yashraj Karhade for Murkhya, which also won Best Children’s Film. Hello Arsi won Best Odiya Film and also got a special mention for the performance of the child actor, Prakruti Mishra. Other special mentions include Malayalam film Take Off for Parvathy’s performance and Pankaj Tripathi for his role in Newton.

Outlook journalist Girdhar Jha won the Best Critic award, while Sunil Mishra received a special mention for Best Writing on Cinema.

Abhishek Verma’s Machher Jhol (The Fish Curry) and Suresh Eriyat’s The Basket bagged the Best Animation Film awards in the non-feature films category.

Pia Shah won the award for best director of a non-feature film for the short Water Baby. Nithin R’s Name, Place, Animal, Thing and Aneez KM’s Slave Genesis were awarded best ethnographic film. Prateek Vats’s documentary on bodybuilder Manohar Aich, A Very Old Man With Enormous Wings, and Arun K’s Monday won special jury awards. Nachi Se Banchi, by Biju Toppo and Meghnath Bhattacharya, and Sword of Liberty were recognised in the biographical non-feature film category, while Girija was awarded best cultural film.

Satarupa Santra’s sports documentary I Am Bonnie and Juhi Bhatt’s Veil Done won the award for best non-feature film on Social Issues. Tenaa Kaur’s 1984: When the Sun Didn’t Rise won the award for best investigative film. Mayat won the award for Best Short fiction film.