On September 30, the 68th National Awards were presented to the winners. All the awardees received prizes from President Droupadi Murmu, who also gave actress Asha Parekh the Dadasaheb Phalke Award for 2020. The Best Film Award for Soorarai Pottru was accepted by actress and producer Jyothika. Suriya and Aparna Balamurali, the movie’s leads, took up the best actor prizes for men and women, respectively.
Tanhaji: The Unsung Warrior earned Suriya and Ajay Devgn a joint Best Actor prize. Om Raut, the film’s director, accepted the award for Best Popular Film Providing Wholesome Entertainment.
Complete list of 68th National Award winners:
The feature film of the year: Soorarai Pottru
Best widely watched movie offering wholesome entertainment: The Unsung Warrior, Tanhaji
Suriya for Soorarai Pottru and Ajay Devgn for Tanhaji: The Unsung Warrior won the award for best actor.
Aparrna Balamurali for Soorarai Pottru won for best actress (Tamil)
Anish Mangesh Gosavi for Tak-Tak (Marathi) and Akanksha Pingle and Divyesh Indulkar for Sumi were both named Best Child Artist.
(Marathi)
For AK Ayyappanum Koshiyum, Sachidanandan KR provided the best direction (Malayalam)
Soorarai Pottru won for best original screenplay (Tamil)
Mandela’s dialogue is the best (Tamil)
Avijatrik won for best cinematography.
Lakshmi Priya Chandramouli for Sivaranjaniyum Innum Sila Pengallum won the award for a best-supporting actress (Tamil)
Biju Menon for AK Ayyappanum Koshiyum won the award for a best-supporting actor (Malayalam)
Best Social Issues Film: Funeral (Marathi)
Optimal Female Playback Nanchamma is the singer for AK Ayyappanum Koshiyum (Malayalam)
A male playback best Rahul Deshpande is the singer for Mi Vasantrao (Marathi)
Special Mention for the category of Feature Film:
Madonne Ashwin’s film Mandela won the Indira Gandhi Award for Best Debut Film of a Director (Tamil)
Sumi, the top children’s movie (Marathi)
Taledanda is the top movie on preserving and protecting the environment (Kannada)
Toolsidas Junior is the best Hindi film.
Avijatrik is the best Bengali movie.
The best Telugu movie is Color Photo.
Sivaranjaniyum Innum Sila Pengallum, the best Tamil movie
Bridge, the top Assamese movie
Thinkalazcha Nishchayam is the best Malayalam movie.
Dada Lakhmi is the best Haryanvi movie.
Semkhor, the best Dimasa film.
Favorite Tulu movie: Jeetige
Goshta Eka Paithanichi is the best Marathi movie.
Dollu, the best Kannada movie
AK Ayyappanum Koshiyum won the award for best action direction.
In terms of choreography, Sandhya Raju’s Natyam won (Telugu)
Manoj Muntashir for Saina has the best lyrics.
Thaman S for Ala Vaikunthapurramuloo won the award for best music direction (Telugu)
Best Music for the Background: GV Prakash’s Soorarai Pottru
The Unsung Warrior’s Tanhaji won for the best costume designer.
For Natyam, the best makeup artist was TV Rambabu.
Kappela, Best Production Design (Malayalam)
Sivaranjaniyum Innum Sila Pengallum has the best editing.
(Tamil)
The best audiobook is Dollu (Kannada)
Mi Vasantrao won for best sound designer (Marathi)
Malik is the best re-recorded and the last track (Malayalam)
Aimee Baruah for Semkhor (Dimasa), Kavya Prakash for Vaanku (Malayalam), Siddharth Menon for June (Marathi), Kishore Kadam for Avwanchhit and Godakaath (Marathi), and Varun Buddhadev for Toolsidas Junior are among the special mentions for feature films.
Category of short films
Kumkumarchan is the top family values movie (Marathi)
Kachichinithu, which won for best short fiction (Karbi)
Admitted: Special Jury Award
Brig Pritam Singh’s “The Saviour” won for best investigation film (Punjabi)
Wheeling the Ball, the best exploration movie
Dreaming of Words, the best educational movie (Malayalam)
The best social issue film Justice Delayed but Delivered and Three Sisters both share this (Bengali)
Manah Aru Manuh won for best environmental film (Assamese)
Best Promo Video: Overcoming Obstacles
PT Venkateshkumar’s Naadada Navaneeta won the award for best arts and culture film (Kannada)
Pabung Syam, the best biographical film (Manipuri)
Mandal Ke Bol is the best ethnographic film.
Best Director’s First Non-Feature Film: Vishesh Iyer’s Pariah (Marathi and Hindi).
Testimony of Ana won for the best non-feature film.
Best technological and scientific film: Bats from On the Brink season 2.
Rhapsody of Rains – Monsoons of Kerala by Shobha Tharoor Sreenivasan won the award for best narration.
Ajit Singh Rathore, Pearl of the Desert, wins for best audiography.
Borderlands’ Anadi Athaley has the best editing.
Vishal Bhardwaj, 1232 KMS: Marenge Toh Wahi Jaakar, won for Best Music Direction.
Best in Place Sandip Bhati, Pradeep Lekhwar, and Jadui Jangal are the sound recordists.
Shabdikkunna Kalappa and Nikhil S. Praveen won for best cinematography (Malayalam)
Best Direction: Oh That’s Bhanu and RV Ramani
No award this year for a best film critic.
State with the best film climate: Madhya Pradesh
The Longest Kiss, by Kishwar Desai, is the best book about movies.
Thank you to everyone who won!