72nd National Film Awards Highlights: Article 370 dominates with Best Film, Best Actress

The 72nd National Film Awards have been announced, with political drama Article 370 winning Best Feature Film. Kartik Aaryan and Mammootty shared the prestigious Best Actor award, while Yami Gautam took home Best Actress. Supporting acting honours went to Sanjay Mishra, Ropashree Varkady, and Sachana Namidass.

Chaired by filmmaker Jayaraj, the jury evaluated entries certified by the CBFC during 2024. Other major winners included Rajkumar Periasamy as Best Director, Kalki 2898 AD for Wholesome Entertainment, Srikanth as Best Hindi Film, and Captain Miller for Promoting National and Social Values.

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Actor Kartik Aaryan’s massive hard work has finally paid off as he wins his first-ever National Film Award. Speaking exclusively to India Today, director Kabir Khan reacts to the big victory, shares how he missed Kartik’s celebratory call, and explains why this performance deserved the highest honour.

Read full interview here.

National Award-winning choreographer Vijay Ganguly speaks to India Today about the surreal moment he learnt about the honour for Aaj Ki Raat, why it feels like a family milestone, and celebrating the win with the Stree 2 team.

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GV Prakash Kumar has won Best Music Director for Amaran. He thanked his fans for his third National Award win. Earlier, he has won for Soorarai Pottru and Vaathi.

Take a look at his note:

Srikanth won Best Hindi Film at 72nd National Film Award. Its director Tushar Hiranandani spoke to India Today and said, "I am feeling on top of the world. I wasn’t even nominated in most of the award shows here. I just got an award in Russia, and now this. It really feels great, and specially for this film. It is a very special film for all of us."

(With inputs from Sana Farzeen)

Randeep Hood expressed gratitude in a statement after winning Best Debut Director. He said, "Being announced as the winner of the National Award for Best Debut Director for Swatantryaveer Savarkar is a moment I’m still trying to process. This film asked more of me than anything I’ve ever done. The journey of this film was filled with challenges at every juncture, but I’m glad we saw it through and overcame each of those. And despite that, somehow we kept finding the strength to move forward. As an actor, co-writer and first-time director, I gave this film everything I had because I felt an immense responsibility towards telling Veer Savarkar’s story with sincerity and honesty. Whatever we endured while making this film is insignificant compared to the life he lived and the sacrifices he made. I’m deeply grateful to my entire team for believing in this dream and standing by it through every high and low. This recognition belongs to all of us, and I hope it inspires more people, especially the younger generation, to discover and reflect on Veer Savarkar’s legacy."

Riddhiman Banerjee, Tapomoy Deb and Gitashree Chakraborty won Best Child Artist (Shared) at 72nd National Film Awards.

Actor Randeep Hooda won Best Debut Film of a Director for his controversial film Swatantrya Veer Savarkar.

Kartik Aaryan-starrer Bhool Bhulaiyaa 3 won National Wward for Best Sound Design. The winner is Manas Choudhary.

Rajkumar Periasamy won Best Direction for Tamil film Amaran. Telugu film Chinna Katha Kaadu won Best Children's Film.

Best Feature Film Promoting National, Social and Environmental Values goes to Dhanush-starrer Captain Miller.

Best Music Director goes to Shashwat Sachdev for composing the music for the Hindi film Article 370.

Best Popular Film Provising Wholesome Entertainment goes to Kalki 2898 AD. The film also won Best Production Designer. Nitin Zihani Choudhary is the winner.

National Award for Best Actor goes to Kartik Aaryan (Chandu Champion) and Mammootty (Bramayugam).

National Award for Best Actress goes to Yami Gautam for Article 370.

Best Actor in Supporting Role goes to Sanjay Mishra for Bhakshak

Best Actress in Supporting Role is Ropashree Varkady for Mithya (Kannada) and Sachana namidass for Maharja (Tamil).

Abhay Jodhpurkar won Best Male Playback Singer for the Marathi film Gharat Ganpati.

Vaikom Vijayalakshmi won Best Female Playback Singer for ARM (Malayalam

Best Screen play - Dialgoue goes to Venjy AtluriLucky Bhaskar (Telugu)

Best Screnplya Write (Adapted) goes to Yogesh Deshpande

Best Screenpaly Write (Original) goes to Bandreddi Sukumar for Pushpa 2