The 72nd National Film Awards was announced in New Delhi on Saturday. The top awards of Best Feature Film, Best Actor and Best Actress in a Leading Role were all won by Hindi releases. The Best Feature accolade was bagged by Article 370 , a thriller film based on the behind-the-scenes events that led the abrogation of the titular law relating to Kashmir. Kartik Aaryan was chosen as the Best Actor for his performance in Kabir Khan's sports-drama Chandu Champion. He shared this award with Mammootty for the historical-horror Bramayugam. Another award fell in the kitty of Article 370 as its lead actor Yami Gautam won for Best Actress.
For Best Supporting actor, Sanjay Mishra won for the OTT film Bhakshak. Randeep Hooda also won an award for Best Debut Film for Swatantrya Veer Savarkar
Here is a list of all the winners:
Feature films
Best Feature Film
Article 370
Director: Aditya Suhas Jambhale
Producer: Jio Studios and B62 Studios
Best Actor in a Leading Role
Kartik Aaryan for Chandu Champion (Hindi)
Mammooty for Brahmayugam (Malayalam)
Best Actress in a Leading Role
Yami Gautam for Article 370
Best Supporting Actor
Sanjay Mishra for Bhakshak (Hindi)
Best Supporting Actress
Ropashree Varkady for Mithya, Sachana Namidass for Maharaja (Tamil)
Best Film Promoting National, Social Values
Captain Miller (Tamil)
Best Popular Film Providing Wholesome Entertainment
Kalki 2898 AD
Best Direction
Rajkumar Periasamy for Amaran (Tamil)
Best Debut Film of a Director
Swatantrya Veer Savarkar (Hindi)
Director: Randeep Hooda
Best Children’s Film
35 Chinna Katha Kaadu (Telugu)
Best Cinematography
Shehnad Jalal for Bramayugam
Best Screenplay (Original)
Sukumar for Pushpa 2 (Telugu)
Best Dialogue Writer
Venky Atluri for Lucky Baskhar (Telugu)
Best Production Design
Nitin Zihani Choudhary for Kalki 2898 AD (Telugu)
Best Action Direction
Anl Arasu for Maharaja (Tamil)
Best Make-Up Artist
P Ravi Kumar for Committee Kurrollu (Telugu)
Best Costume Design
Deepali Noor & Sheetal Sharma for Pushpa 2
Best Music Direction
Shashwat Sachdev for Article 370
Best Background Music
GV Prakash for Amaran
Best Lyrics
Manoj Muntashir for Maidaan
Best Male Playback Singer
Abhay Jodhpurkar for 'Gharat Ganpati' from Navasachi Gauri Mazi (Marathi)
The awards have honoured films certified by the Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC) between January 1, 2024, and December 31, 2024. This year’s winners have been selected by an 11-member jury headed by acclaimed filmmaker Jayaraj, which evaluated entries from across the country before submitting its recommendations to the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting.
The announcement of the awards was originally expected to take place around two weeks ago but was delayed as the jury’s deliberations were still underway. Earlier this month, reports suggested that the jury had not yet finalised the winners and that prior commitments of a few members had further pushed back the announcement.