69th National Film Awards

69th National Film Awards
Awarded for	Best of Indian cinema in 2021
Awarded by	NFDC
Presented by	Droupadi Murmu (President of India)
Announced on	24 August 2023
Presented on	17 October 2023
Official website	www.nfdcindia.com
Highlights
Best Feature Film	Rocketry: The Nambi Effect
Best Non-Feature Film	Ek Tha Gaon
Best Book	Music by Laxmikant Pyarelal: The Incredibly Melodious Journey
Best Film Critic	Purushothama Charyulu
Dadasaheb Phalke Award	Waheeda Rehman
Most awards	RRR (6)
←  68th National Film Awards 70th  →

The 69th National Film Awards ceremony was an event during which the National Film Development Corporation of India presented its annual National Film Awards to honour the best films of 2021 in Indian cinema. The awards ceremony was originally slated to be held on 3 May 2022 but was postponed due to delays after the COVID-19 pandemic. ^[1] The winners were announced on 24 August 2023, by the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting in a press conference. ^{[2] [3]} The winners along with the Dadasaheb Phalke Award recipient were felicitated by the President, Droupadi Murmu on 17 October 2023 at the Vigyan Bhawan, New Delhi. ^{[4] [5]}

Selection process

The National Film Development Corporation of India invited online entries on 31 March 2023 with the acceptable last date for entries until 10 May 2023. Feature and Non-Feature Films certified by the Central Board of Film Certification between 1 January 2021, and 31 December 2021, were eligible for the film award categories. Books, critical studies, reviews or articles on cinema published in Indian newspapers, magazines, and journals between 1 January 2021, and 31 December 2021, were eligible for the best writing on cinema section. Entries of dubbed, revised or copied versions of a film or translation, abridgements, edited or annotated works and reprints were ineligible for the awards.

For the feature and non-feature Films sections, films in any Indian language, shot on 16 mm, 35 mm, a wider film gauge or a digital format, and released in cinemas, on video or digital formats for home viewing were eligible. Films were required to be certified as a feature film, a featurette or a Documentary/Newsreel/Non-Fiction by the Central Board of Film Certification. ^[6]

Dadasaheb Phalke Award

Introduced in 1969, the Dadasaheb Phalke Award is India's highest award in the field of cinema given to recognise the contributions of film personalities towards the development of Indian cinema and for distinguished contributions to the medium, its growth and promotion. The recipient is awarded with 'Golden Lotus Award' (Swarna Kamal), cash prize of ₹1 million (US$12,000) and a shawl. The 2021 recipient is Waheeda Rehman. ^[7]

A committee consisting five eminent personalities from Indian film industry was appointed to evaluate the lifetime achievement award, Dadasaheb Phalke Award. Following were the jury members:

• Jury Members

• Asha Parekh

• Chiranjeevi

• Paresh Rawal

• Shekhar Kapur

• Prosenjit Chatterjee

Award	Image	Awardee(s)	Awarded As	Cash Prize
Dadasaheb Phalke Award		Waheeda Rehman	Actress	₹1,000,000 (US$12,000)

Feature films

Golden Lotus Awards

Official Name: Swarna Kamal

All the awardees are awarded with 'Golden Lotus Award (Swarna Kamal)', a certificate and cash prize.

Award	Film	Language	Awardee(s)	Cash Prize
Best Feature Film	Rocketry: The Nambi Effect	Tamil Hindi	Director: R. Madhavan	₹250,000
Best Direction	Godavari	Marathi	Nikhil Mahajan	₹250,000
Best Popular Film Providing Wholesome Entertainment	RRR	Telugu	Producer: D. V. V. Danayya Director: S. S. Rajamouli	₹200,000 each
Best Children's Film	Gandhi & Co.	Gujarati	Producer: MD Media Corp Director: Manish Saini	₹150,000 each
Best Debut Film of a Director	Meppadiyan	Malayalam	Producer: Unni Mukundan Director: Vishnu Mohan	₹125,000 each

Silver Lotus Award

Official Name: Rajat Kamal

All the awardees are awarded with 'Silver Lotus Award (Rajat Kamal)', a certificate and cash prize.

Award	Film	Language	Awardee(s)	Cash Prize
Best Feature Film on National Integration	The Kashmir Files	Hindi	Producer: Abhishek Agarwal Arts Director: Vivek Agnihotri	₹150,000 each
Best Film on Environment Conservation/Preservation	Aavasavyuham	Malayalam	Producer: Krishand Director: Krishand	₹150,000 each
Best Film on Social Issues	Anunaad – The Resonance	Assameese	Producer: Assam State Film (Finance & Development) Corporation Ltd. Director: Reema Borah	₹150,000 each
Best Actor	Pushpa: The Rise	Telugu	Allu Arjun	₹50,000
Best Actress	Gangubai Kathiawadi	Hindi	Alia Bhatt	₹50,000 each
	Mimi	Hindi	Kriti Sanon
Best Supporting Actor	Mimi	Hindi	Pankaj Tripathi	₹50,000
Best Supporting Actress	The Kashmir Files	Hindi	Pallavi Joshi	₹50,000
Best Child Artist	Chhello Show	Gujarati	Bhavin Rabari	₹50,000
Best Male Playback Singer	RRR	Telugu	Kaala Bhairava ("Komuram Bheemudo")	₹50,000
Best Female Playback Singer	Iravin Nizhal	Tamil & Telugu	Shreya Ghoshal ("Mayava Chayava")	₹50,000
Best Cinematography	Sardar Udham	Hindi	Avik Mukhopadhyay	₹50,000
Best Screenplay  • Screenplay Writer (Original)	Nayattu	Malayalam	Shahi Kabir	₹50,000
Best Screenplay  • Screenplay Writer (Adapted)	Gangubai Kathiawadi	Hindi	Sanjay Leela Bhansali Utkarshini Vashishtha	₹50,000
Best Screenplay  • Dialogues	Gangubai Kathiawadi	Hindi	Utkarshini Vashishtha Prakash Kapadia	₹50,000
Best Audiography  • Location Sound Recordist	Chavittu	Malayalam	Arun Asok Sonu KP	₹50,000
Best Audiography  • Sound Designer	Jhilli	Bengali	Aneesh Basu	₹50,000
Best Audiography  • Re-recordist of the Final Mixed Track	Sardar Udham	Hindi	Sinoy Joseph	₹50,000
Best Music Direction  • Songs	Pushpa: The Rise	Telugu	Devi Sri Prasad	₹50,000
Best Music Direction  • Background Score	RRR	Telugu	M. M. Keeravani	₹50,000
Best Editing	Gangubai Kathiawadi	Hindi	Sanjay Leela Bhansali	₹50,000
Best Production Design	Sardar Udham	Hindi	Dmitri Malich-Konkov Mansi Dhruv Mehta	₹50,000
Best Costume Design	Sardar Udham	Hindi	Veera Kapur Ee	₹50,000
Best Make-up Artist	Gangubai Kathiawadi	Hindi	Preetishsheel Singh D'Souza	₹50,000
Best Lyrics	Konda Polam	Telugu	Chandrabose ("Dham Dham Dham")	₹50,000
Best Special Effects	RRR	Telugu	V. Srinivas Mohan	₹50,000
Best Choreography	RRR	Telugu	Prem Rakshith ("Naatu Naatu")	₹50,000
Best Stunt Choreographer	RRR	Telugu	King Soloman	₹50,000
Special Jury Award	Shershaah	Hindi	Producer: Karan Johar, Dharma Productions Director: Vishnuvardhan	₹2,00,000 each
Special Mention	Nallandi Aranya & Bithan Indrans Jahanara Begum	Tamil Bengali Malayalam Assamese	Kadaisi Vivasayi Jhilli Home Anur	Certificate only

Regional awards

National Film Awards are also given to the best films in the regional languages of India. Awards for the regional languages are categorised as per their mention in the Eighth schedule of the Constitution of India. Awardees included producers and directors of the film. No films in languages other than those specified in the Schedule VIII of the Constitution were eligible.

Award	Film	Awardee(s)		Cash Prize
		Producer	Director
Best Feature Film in Assamese	Anur	Gopendra Mohan Das	Monjul Baruah	₹1,00,000 each
Best Feature Film in Bengali	Kalkokkho	Anjan Bose	Rajdeep Paul, Sarmistha Maiti	₹1,00,000 each
Best Feature Film in Gujarati	Chhello Show	Pan Nalin, Dheer Momaya, Siddharth Roy Kapur, Marc Duale	Pan Nalin	₹1,00,000 each
Best Feature Film in Hindi	Sardar Udham	Ronnie Lahiri, Sheel Kumar	Shoojit Sircar	₹1,00,000 each
Best Feature Film in Kannada	777 Charlie	G. S. Gupta, Rakshit Shetty	Kiranraj K.	₹1,00,000 each
Best Feature Film in Maithili	Samanantar	Niraj Kumar Mishra, Atul Pandey	Niraj Kumar Mishra	₹1,00,000 each
Best Feature Film in Malayalam	Home	Vijay Babu	Rojin Thomas	₹1,00,000 each
Best Feature Film in Manipuri	Eikhoigi Yum	Romi Meitei & Chingsubam Sheetal	Romi Meitei	₹1,00,000 each
Best Feature Film in Marathi	Ekda Kaay Zala	Saleel Kulkarni, Siddharth Mahadevan, Soumil Shringarpure, Siddharth Khinvasara, Soumendu Kuber, Arundhati Datye, Anoop Nimkar, Nitin Prakash Vaidya	Saleel Kulkarni	₹1,00,000 each
Best Feature Film in Odia	Pratikshya	Anupam Patnaik	Anupam Patnaik	₹1,00,000 each
Best Feature Film in Tamil	Kadaisi Vivasayi	M. Manikandan	M. Manikandan	₹1,00,000 each
Best Feature Film in Telugu	Uppena	Naveen Yerneni, Y. Ravi Shankar	Buchi Babu Sana	₹1,00,000 each

Short films

Short films made in any Indian language and certified by the Central Board of Film Certification as a documentary/newsreel/fiction are eligible for non-feature film section.

Golden Lotus Award

Official Name: Swarna Kamal

All the awardees are awarded with 'Golden Lotus Award (Swarna Kamal)', a certificate and cash prize.

Award	Film	Language	Awardee(s)	Cash Prize
Best Non-Feature Film	Ek Tha Gaon		Producer & Director: Srishti Lakhera	₹1,50,000 each
Best Director of Non-Feature Film	Smile Please	Hindi	Bakul Matiyani	₹1,50,000

Silver Lotus Award

Official Name: Rajat Kamal

All the Awardees are awarded with 'Silver Lotus Award (Rajat Kamal)' and cash prize.

Award	Film	Language	Awardee(s)	Cash Prize
Best Debut Non-Feature Film of A Director	Paanchika		Producer: Shreya Kapadiya Director: Ankit Kothari	₹ 75,000/- each
Best Biographical Film	Beyond Blast	Manipuri	Producer: Konjengbam Sushila Leima Director: Saikhom Ratan	₹ 50,000/- each
	Rukhu Matir Dukhu Majhi	Bengali	Producer: Somnath Mondal Director: Somnath Mondal	₹ 50,000/- each
Best Arts / Cultural Film	T.N. Krishnan Bow Strings to Divine		Producer: Director:	₹ 50,000/- each
Best Environment Film	Munnam Valavu		Producer: Director:	₹ 50,000/- each
Best Promotional Film			Producer: Director:	₹ 50,000/- each
Best Film on Other Social Issues	Mithu DiThree Two One		Producer: Director:	₹150,000 each
			Producer: Director:
Best Educational Film	Sirpigalin Sirpangal	Tamil	Producer: KKV Media Venture Director: B. Lenin	₹ 50,000/- each
Best Ethnographic Film			Producer: Director:	₹ 50,000/- each
Best Exploration Film	Ayushman	English Kannada	Producer: Mathew Varghese Dinesh Rajkumar N. Naveen Francis Director: Jacob Varghese	₹50,000/- each
Best Investigative Film	Looking for Challan	English	Producer: IGNCA Director: Bappa Ray	₹50,000/- each
Best Animation Film	Kandittundu	Malayalam	Producer: Studio Eeksaurus Productions Pvt. Ltd. Director: Adithi Krishnadas	₹50,000/-
Best Short Fiction Film	Dal Bhat	Gujarati	Producer & Director: Nemil Shah	₹50,000/- each
Best Film on Family Values	Chand Saanse	Hindi	Producer: Chandrakant Kulkarni Director: Pratima Joshi	₹50,000/- each
Best Cinematography	Pataal-Tee	Bhotiya	Bittu Rawat	₹50,000/- each
Best Audiography	Ek Tha Gaon	Garhwali Hindi	Re-recordist: Krishnanunni N R	₹50,000/-
Best Location Sound Recordist (Location/Sync Sound)	Meen Raag	Rajasthani	Production Sound Recordist: Suruchi Sharma	₹50,000/-
Best Editing	If Memory Serves Me Right	English	Abhro Banerjee	₹50,000/-
Best Music Direction	Succulent	Hindi English Marathi	Ishaan Divecha	₹50,000/-
Best Narration / Voice Over	Hati Bondhu	English Assamese	Kulada Kumar Bhattacharjee	₹50,000/-
Special Jury Award	Rekha	Marathi	Shekhar Bapu Rankhambe	₹1,00,000/-
Special Mention Award

References

1. "Call for entries for 69th National Films Awards 2021". e-pao.net.
2. "69th National Film Awards for the year 2021 announce". Press Information Bureau . 24 August 2023. Retrieved 9 October 2024.
3. "69th National Film Awards 2023 complete winners list: Rocketry, Alia Bhatt, Kriti Sanon, Allu Arjun, RRR, Gangubai Kathiawadi win big". 24 August 2023.
4. "Media Advisory for 69th National Film Awards". Press Information Bureau . 15 October 2023. Retrieved 15 October 2023.
5. Live: Presentation Ceremony of the "69th National Film Awards" - 17 October 2023. DD National. 13 October 2023. Retrieved 13 October 2023– via YouTube.
6. "69th National Films Awards 2021" (PDF). NFDC.
7. The Indian Express (26 September 2023). "Waheeda Rehman honoured with Dadasaheb Phalke Award for contributions to Indian cinema, expemplifying 'strength of Bharatiya Nari'". Archived from the original on 26 September 2023. Retrieved 13 October 2023.

External links

• National Film Awards Archives
• Official Page for Directorate of Film Festivals, India