S.S. Rajamouli’s blockbuster RRR bagged six awards and Sanjay Leela Bhansali’s Gangubai Kathiawadi won in five categories at the 69th National Film Awards for the year 2021 announced on Thursday.
Rocketry: The Nambi Effect, written, produced, and directed by R. Madhavan was adjudged the Best Feature Film, while the Best Actor award went to Allu Arjun for his performance in the Telugu superhit Pushpa: The Rise-Part 1. Alia Bhatt and Kriti Sanon shared the Best Actress award for Gangubai Kathiawadi and Mimi, respectively.
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Vivek Ranjan Agnihotri-directed The Kashmir Files was conferred the Nargis Dutt Award for Best Feature Film on National Integration. The Indira Gandhi Award for Best Debut Film of a Director went to Meppadiyan, directed by Vishnu Mohan and produced by Unni Mukundan Films. The Best Director award was bagged by Nikhil Mahajanaward for the Marathi film Godavari (The Holy Water).
RRR, produced by DVV Entertainments, won in six categories including Best Popular Film Providing Wholesome Entertainment; Best Male Playback Singer (Kaala Bhairava for the song Komuram Bheemudo); Best Music Direction - M.M. Keeravaani shared the award with Devi Sri Prasad for Pushpa: The Rise-Part 1; Best Special Effects (V. Srinivas Mohan); Best Choreography (Prem Rakshith); and Best Action Direction (King Solomon).
Earlier this year, Naatu Naatu, a song from RRR, had won an Oscar award for the Best Original Song at the 95th Academy Awards.
Sanjay Leela Bhansali’s Bollywood musical Gangubai Kathiawadi bagged awards for Best Screenplay-Adapted (Mr. Bhansali and Utkarshini Vashishtha); Best Dialogue (Ms. Vashishtha and Prakash Kapadia); Best Editing (Mr. Bhansali); Best Actress (Ms. Bhatt); and Best Make-up Artist (Preetisheel Singh D’souza).
Historical biopic Sardar Udham won awards in five categories: Best Hindi Film (producer Kino works LLP and director Sujit Sircar); Best Cinematography (Avik Mukhopadhayay); Best Audiography (Sinoy Joseph); Best Production Design (Dmitrii Malich and Mansi Dhruv Mehta); and Best Costume Designer (Veera Kapur Ee).
Shahi Kabir took home the award for the Best Screenplay (Original) for the Malayalam movie Nayattu-The Hunt. Pankaj Tripathi, for Mimi, was adjudged the Best Supporting Actor and Pallavi Joshi, for The Kashmir Files, the Best Supporting Actress. The Best Non-Feature Film award was bagged by the Bollywood movie Ek Tha Gaon directed by Srishti Lakhera.
Shreya Ghoshal won the Best Female Playback Singer award for Maayava Chaayavaa in the Tamil film Iravin Nizhal (Shadow of the Night). Award for the Best Lyrics went to Chandrabose for Dham Dham Dham in Telugu movie Konda Polam.
The Critics Special Mention award went to Subramanya Badoor (Kannada). Awards were also announced for Best Film Critic (Purushothama Charyulu, Telugu); and Best Book on Cinema (Music by Lakxmikant Pyarelal: The Incredibly Melodious Journey, authored by Rajiv Vijayakar, published by Rupa Publications)..
Congratulating the winners, Information and Broadcasting Minister Anurag Thakur said: “The jury members of the 69th National Film Awards met me today and handed the report. They have gone through a long list of movies which included feature films, non-feature films and writing on cinema. India produced quality content even during the Covid-19 pandemic...”
“...Today India is the largest film maker in the world. We have the potential to become the content hub of the world. This is our time. Today our films are being recognised all over the world, be it BAFTA or the Oscars,” he said.
