India’s 72nd National Film Awards: Article 370 Wins Best Feature Film

The 72nd National Film Awards were announced on Saturday, July 18, honouring outstanding achievements in Indian cinema during 2024.

Article 370 secured the prestigious Best Feature Film award, while Yami Gautam was named Best Actress in a Leading Role for her performance in the film.

The Best Actor in a Leading Role award was shared by Mammootty for the Malayalam film Bramayugam and Kartik Aaryan for the Hindi sports drama Chandu Champion.

Rajkumar Periasamy received the Best Direction award for the Tamil film Amaran. Randeep Hooda, meanwhile, won Best Debut Film of a Director for Swatantrya Veer Savarkar.

Article 370 Wins Three Awards

Article 370 collected three honours: Best Feature Film, Best Actress in a Leading Role and Best Music Direction for Songs, awarded to Shashwat Sachdev.

Amaran also won three awards. In addition to Rajkumar Periasamy’s directing honour, R. Kalaivannan won Best Editing and G. V. Prakash Kumar received Best Music Direction for Background Music.

Kalki 2898 AD won Best Popular Film Providing Wholesome Entertainment and Best Production Design, with Nitin Zihani Choudhary receiving the latter award.

Pushpa: The Rule Part 02 earned honours for original screenplay and costume design.

Major Feature Film Awards

Best Feature Film: Article 370 — Hindi

Best Debut Film of a Director: Randeep Hooda for Swatantrya Veer Savarkar — Hindi

Best Popular Film Providing Wholesome Entertainment: Kalki 2898 AD — Telugu

Best Feature Film Promoting National, Social and Environmental Values: Captain Miller — Tamil

Best Children’s Film: 35 – Chinna Katha Kaadu — Telugu

Best Direction: Rajkumar Periasamy for Amaran — Tamil

Acting Awards

Best Actor in a Leading Role: Mammootty for Bramayugam — Malayalam; Kartik Aaryan for Chandu Champion — Hindi

Best Actress in a Leading Role: Yami Gautam for Article 370 — Hindi

Best Actor in a Supporting Role: Sanjay Mishra for Bhakshak — Hindi

Best Actress in a Supporting Role: Sachana Namidass for Maharaja — Tamil; Ropashree Varkady for Mithya — Kannada

Best Child Artist: Athish S. Shetty for Mithya — Kannada; Arundev Pothula for 35 – Chinna Katha Kaadu — Telugu; Riddhiman Banerjee, Tapomoy Deb and Gitashree Chakraborty for Onko Ki Kothin — Bengali

Music and Playback Awards

Best Male Playback Singer: Abhay Jodhpurkar for “Navasachi Gauri Mazi” from Gharat Ganpati — Marathi

Best Female Playback Singer: Vaikom Vijayalakshmi for “Angu Vaana Konilu” from A.R.M. — Malayalam

Best Music Direction — Songs: Shashwat Sachdev for Article 370 — Hindi

Best Music Direction — Background Music: G. V. Prakash Kumar for Amaran — Tamil

Best Lyrics: Manoj Muntashir for “Jaane Do” from Maidaan — Hindi

Technical and Creative Awards

Best Cinematography: Shehnad Jalal for Bramayugam — Malayalam

Best Screenplay — Original: Bandreddi Sukumar for Pushpa: The Rule Part 02 — Telugu

Best Screenplay — Adapted: Yogesh Deshpande for Swargandharva Sudhir Phadke — Marathi

Best Screenplay — Dialogue: Venky Atluri for Lucky Baskhar — Telugu

Best Sound Design: Manas Choudhury for Bhool Bhulaiyaa 3 — Hindi

Best Editing: R. Kalaivannan for Amaran — Tamil

Best Production Design: Nitin Zihani Choudhary for Kalki 2898 AD — Telugu

Best Costume Design: Deepali Noor and Sheetal Sharma for Pushpa: The Rule Part 02 — Telugu

Best Make-up: P. Ravi Kumar for Committee Kurrollu — Telugu

Best Choreography: Vijay Ganguly for “Aaj Ki Raat” from Stree 2 — Hindi

Best Action Direction — Stunt Choreography: Anl Arasu for Maharaja — Tamil

Regional Feature Film Awards

Best Assamese Film: Juiphool

Best Bengali Film: Chalchitra Ekhon

Best Gujarati Film: Maaran

Best Hindi Film: Srikanth

Best Kannada Film: Mithya

Best Konkani Film: Mog Asum

Best Malayalam Film: Feminichi Fathima

Best Manipuri Film: Sunita

Best Marathi Film: Mukkam Post Bombilwadi

Best Odia Film: Lahari

Best Tamil Film: Raayan

Best Telugu Film: Committee Kurrollu

Best Garhwali Film: Dholi

Best Tulu Film: IMBU

Feature Film Special Mentions

Dhanush received a Special Mention for his performance in the Tamil film Captain Miller.

Sound-mix engineer Suren G. also received a Special Mention for the Tamil film Meiyazhagan.

Non-Feature Film Awards

Bhangaar, a Marathi and English production directed and produced by Sumira Roy, won Best Non-Feature Film.

Best Non-Feature Film: Bhangaar — Marathi and English

Best Debut Film of a Director: Ravi Raj Murmu for Angen — Santhali

Best Biographical, Historical Reconstruction or Compilation Film: Kakori — Hindi

Best Arts or Culture Film: Main Nida — Hindi

Best Documentary: Ram-Nami — Hindi

Best Non-Feature Film Promoting Social and Environmental Values: Piplantri: A Tale of Eco Feminism — Hindi, Rajasthani and English

Best Animation Film: Touched as Water — Silent

Best Short Film — Up to 30 Minutes: Hamsafar — Marathi

Best Direction: Aanand L. Rai for Statue of Unity – Ekta Ka Prateek — Hindi

Best Cinematography: Edmond Ranson for Life in Loom — English, Tamil, Hindi, Assamese and Bengali

Best Sound Design: T. S. Hari Hara Sudhan for Blue — Tamil

Best Editing: Manvir Jasrotia for NDA — Hindi

Best Music Direction: Shivpal Singh Kang for Parat 41°chya Magavar (On the Trail of 41°) — Marathi

Best Narration or Voice Over: Soundarya Jayachandran for Little Planet: A Tale of Frogs — English

Best Script: Faraz Ali for Obur — Hindi and Kashmiri

Non-Feature Film Special Mentions

Director Ananda Jyothi, also known as Jose Antony, received a Special Mention for the Malayalam production Bhadra-Kali Natakam.

Directors Jaymin Modi and Lokesh Ghai also received Special Mentions for the Hindi production Chola Dora Aur Sui.