The decision to hold the 72nd National Film Awards in Kevadia in Gujarat is a major policy initiative to take the event beyond New Delhi and hold it in various parts of the country, the Information and Broadcasting Ministry said on Tuesday.
The award ceremony, which will bring together filmmakers, actors, technicians, and other artists from across the country to celebrate outstanding achievements in Indian cinema for the year 2024, will be presented by President Droupadi Murmu on September 22.
Instituted in 1954, the National Film Awards are the country’s most prestigious honours for excellence in cinema. Over seven decades, the awards have recognised outstanding creative and technical achievements across feature films, non-feature films and writing on cinema, while reflecting the rich linguistic, cultural and regional diversity of Indian filmmaking, the ministry said in a press release.
"In a major policy initiative, it has been decided by the Ministry of Information & Broadcasting to hold National Film Awards in various parts of the country taking beyond the National Capital. The ceremony at Ekta Nagar this year will bring together cinematic talent from across India, embody the spirit of ‘Ek Bharat, Shreshtha Bharat’," it said.
"Article 370" has been named the best feature film and its lead star Yami Gautam the best actress. Malayalam superstar Mammootty and Bollywood star Kartik Aaryan will share the best actor prize for their roles in "Bramayugam" and "Chandu Champion", respectively.
Actor-filmmaker Randeep Hooda has been named the best debut director award for "Swatantrya Veer Savarkar", a biopic on Vinayak Damodar Savarkar.
Telugu science-fiction epic "Kalki 2898 AD" will receive the award for best popular film "providing wholesome entertainment", while Tamil film "Captain Miller", directed by
Arun Matheswaran and starring Dhanush, has been named the best feature film promoting "National, Social and Environmental Values".
The awards also recognise excellence in films across languages and forms, including Marathi, Santhali, Tamil, Malayalam, Telugu, Kannada, Tulu and Garhwali.
Several films, including "Kalki 2898 AD", "Amaran", "Pushpa: The Rule Part-02", "Bhool Bhulaiyaa 3" and "Stree 2", will also receive honours in various categories. For the first time, a Santhali film will be honoured in the Non-Feature Film section.
The first National Awards in 1954 were held in Delhi's Vigyan Bhawan that has hosted most of the award ceremonies since.
The 72nd edition of the awards, announced in July, will be a departure from the usual tradition though there have been instances when the ceremony was held outside Delhi. The 17th National Film Awards, for instance, were held in Chennai in 1971.
Kevadia, which has been renamed Ekta Nagar, is home to the world's tallest statue -- that of Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel. The Statue of Unity, as it is named, stands at 597 feet and was inaugurated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in 2018.
(With inputs from PTI)