The 72nd National Film Awards left Delhi for the first time, handing out its top honours at the Statue of Unity with President Droupadi Murmu presiding.
For the first time since the National Film Awards began in 1954, the ceremony didn't happen in Delhi. It happened against the Statue of Unity, at Ekta Nagar in Kevadia, Gujarat, with President Droupadi Murmu handing out the honours on Tuesday afternoon.
The headline award split two ways. Kartik Aaryan won Best Actor for Chandu Champion, his first National Award, and he shares it with Mammootty, who took the same category for the Malayalam horror-thriller Bramayugam. Aaryan flew into Gujarat and stopped by the Statue of Unity before the ceremony, telling the gathering he was "truly, incredibly happy" and that his whole team was thrilled, according to Hindustan Times. He credited the jury and pointed back to Chandu Champion's Paralympic thread as the reason the film has stayed with people.
Yami Gautam picked up Best Actress for Article 370, which also went home with Best Feature Film. That's a clean sweep for a film that arrived without much fanfare last year and has now landed the two biggest prizes on the table.
Randeep Hooda was named Best Debut Director for Swatantrya Veer Savarkar, a notable line on a resume that already runs heavy on acting. Bhangaar took Best Non-Feature Film and Ram-Nami won Best Documentary, per a Press Information Bureau release cited by Onmanorama.
A clutch of the year's biggest commercial titles are also in the honours list, though in specific technical or regional categories rather than the top slots. Kalki 2898 AD, Amaran, Pushpa: The Rule Part 2, Bhool Bhulaiyaa 3 and Stree 2 all feature, per Onmanorama's report, which suggests the jury didn't ignore what was actually filling theatres in 2024.
Veteran Kannada actor Anant Nag gets the Dadasaheb Phalke Award for 2024, the industry's highest honour, recognising a career that's run past five decades. It's the kind of award that arrives late in a career and still means more than most.
The guest list ahead of the ceremony read like a cross-section of the industry rather than one corner of it. Composer G V Prakash and choreographer Kala Master landed in Vadodara, as did Rajya Sabha MP and RRR writer V Vijayendra Prasad, actor Sreelekha Mukherji and filmmaker Jayarajan Nair. Prakash told reporters outside the airport he was visiting the Statue of Unity for the first time. Vijayendra Prasad said much the same.
The shift away from Delhi isn't a one-off. The Ministry of Information and Broadcasting has said it plans to keep moving the ceremony to different states in the years ahead, treating it as a way to spread the National Awards beyond the capital rather than a one-time Gujarat detour. Where it lands for the 73rd edition is the next thing to watch.
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