President Droupadi Murmu will hand out the 72nd National Film Awards on September 22 in Ekta Nagar, home to the Statue of Unity, marking the ceremony's first exit from Vigyan Bhawan.
For 72 years the National Film Awards have belonged to Delhi's Vigyan Bhawan. That ends this month.
Officials confirmed on Monday that the 72nd edition will be held in Kevadia, Gujarat, on September 22, with President Droupadi Murmu presenting the awards. Kevadia was renamed Ekta Nagar some years back. It's best known as the site of the Statue of Unity, the 597-foot Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel monument that Prime Minister Narendra Modi inaugurated in 2018. The first National Film Awards were handed out in Delhi back in 1954, and the capital has hosted almost every edition since. So this is a genuine break from tradition, not a minor tweak.
The winners list, announced in July, is its own story.
"Article 370" takes best feature film, and Yami Gautam wins best actress for it. The best actor award is shared this year, going to Mammootty for "Bramayugam" and Kartik Aaryan for "Chandu Champion". That's a Malayalam superstar and a Bollywood leading man on the same trophy, which doesn't happen every cycle.
Randeep Hooda picks up best debut director for "Swatantrya Veer Savarkar", his biopic on Vinayak Damodar Savarkar. On the popular cinema side, "Kalki 2898 AD" — the Telugu science-fiction epic that had theatres packed last year, takes the best popular film award, cited for what the jury called wholesome entertainment. And Dhanush's "Captain Miller", directed by Arun Matheswaran, wins the award for the feature that best promotes national, social and environmental values.
So the lineup already spans Hindi, Malayalam, Telugu and Tamil cinema before you even get to the venue question. That's not new for the National Awards. The venue is.
Moving the ceremony to a site built around one of the country's most visible political symbols is going to invite reading. Whether it's meant as a statement about decentralising cultural events from Delhi, or something more specific to the Statue of Unity itself, isn't spelled out by officials yet. What's confirmed is the date, the location and the President's presence. The rest. The seating, the red carpet, whether Bollywood's A-listers make the trip to Gujarat instead of a five-minute drive across Delhi, will play out over the next fortnight.
September 22 is now the date to watch. Kevadia has never hosted anything like this before, and neither has Indian cinema's biggest official night out ever left the capital. Both firsts happen on the same evening.
Be the first to comment
Join the argument. No password, just your email or a passkey.