NEW DELHI: Union Minister for Information and Broadcasting Ashwini Vaishnaw on Tuesday said the centre is taking the National Film Awards (NFA) beyond conventional venues like New Delhi and connecting them with the best tourist destinations across the country, inspired by PM Narendra Modi's vision.
TNIE reported on September 8 that the prestigious awards will be hosted in Kevadia (Ekta Nagar), home to the world’s tallest statue of Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel in Gujarat.
President Droupadi Murmu will present the awards on September 22.
The minister also invited all states to submit proposals identifying their best tourism destinations for hosting the NFA. He said that the proposals should include the best facilities as well as a plan for 360-degree development of the destination.
The state whose proposal is selected will host the subsequent awards at the proposed tourist destination.
Vaishnaw said that Ekta Nagar has gained recognition across the world and is a highly attractive destination, home to the world’s tallest statue...He added that when the President and leading personalities from the Indian film industry visit the tourist destination, it would provide an opportunity for more people to experience the destination.
The minister also recalled that when Modi hosted the G20, its events were taken to different parts of the country and held across various states. He said that the NFA are also being taken across the country as part of a larger thought process to explore how film and tourism can be brought together.
Vaishnaw further added that bringing film and tourism together would benefit the tourist destination as well as enable the NFA to move beyond a conference room and reach real physical destinations across the country.
The awards ceremony has been organised in New Delhi since the inception, except once in 1970. The 17th NFA was held at the University Centenary Auditorium in Chennai (earlier known as Madras) that year.
A new award was also introduced to honour the father of the Indian cinema, Dadasaheb Phalke. Devika Rani was bestowed the first-ever Dadasaheb Phalke Award.
Instituted in 1954, NFAs 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.
Initially, the awards were called “State Awards” for films. They were given out in a ceremony that was held in New Delhi's National Physical Laboratory (NPL) Auditorium at Pusa. The first president, Dr Rajendra Prasad, handed over the awards.
The NPL auditorium served as the ceremony venue for three consecutive years until Vigyan Bhawan was constructed in 1956. It was built for international conferences and symposiums or meetings convened by the central ministries and government departments.
The fourth edition of the award function took place at Vigyan Bhawan in 1957; since then, it has hosted most of the award ceremonies.
Separate awards for artists and technicians were instituted in 1968.
Renowned actor Nargis Dutt won the inaugural National Film Award for Best Actress for her performance in Raat Aur Din (1967) directed by Satyen Bose, while Uttam Kumar bagged the first-ever National Film Award for Best Actor for his roles in Antony Firingee and Chiriyakhana (1967) directed by Sunil Bannerjee and Satyajit Ray, respectively.
While the Best Actress award was then named "Urvashi Award", Best Actor was called the "Bharat Award".
