71st National Film Awards: Sangh Parivar propaganda film wins big!

New Delhi: Filmmaker Sudipto Sen won the best director award for his film "The Kerala Story", which brimmed with Sangh Parivar propaganda and showed Kerala as well as the Muslim community in a bad light, in the 71st National Film Awards.

The awards, which were dominated by Hindi cinema, chose superstar Shah Rukh Khan for his performance in "Jawan" and Vikrant Massey for "12th Fail". The awards announced for the year 2023 chose“12th Fail” as best feature film. The jury selected Rani Mukerji as best actress for her performance in "Mrs Chatterjee vs Norway". Both SRK and Rani Mukherji bagged their career first National Film Awards.

“The Kerala Story” is notorious for its storyline portraying women in the state who are claimed to be being forcefully converted and recruited by the terror group Islamic State.

Among the jury was the director of the renowned SRK starrer in 2004's "Swades", Gowarikar. He claimed, "It's a difficult topic, and to convey that with this kind of clarity is something that we as a jury felt was the need to applaud," for choosing “The Kerala Story” for the awards, PTI reported.

Gowariker then praised SRK for his winning best actor saying that the “King Khan” was recognised for "delivering a powerhouse performance, balancing raw intensity and emotional depth and bringing to life a hero who fights not just enemy but societal boundaries, creating two unforgettable cinema personas".

The filmmaker said it was "quite historic" that one of the biggest stars of Indian cinema got an award for best acting at the National Film Awards ", after such a long and prolific career".

The jury praised Massey's performance as one that portrayed the transformative journey of a village boy with "raw honesty and emotional depth".

Filmmaker Karan Johar's "Rocky Aur Rani Kii Kahaani" was named the best popular film providing wholesome entertainment, while Meghna Gulzar's directorial "Sam Bahadur" was recognised as the best film promoting national, social and environmental values.

Vaibhavi Merchant won the best choreography award for "Rocky Aur Rani Kii Prem Kahaani" song "Dhindhora Baaje". Shilpa Rao was named best female playback singer for the "Jawan" track "Chaleya".

A biopic on Field Marshal Sam Manekshaw, "Sam Bahadur," was also nominated in categories for make-up and costume.

Sanya Malhotra-starrer "Kathal: A Jackfruit Mystery" was named the best Hindi film.

While Hindi cinema ruled in the main categories, regional movies were recognised in categories such as best supporting actor as well as actress and in technical segments.

Vijayaraghavan for Malayalam film "Pookalam", Muthupettai Somu Bhaskar for Tamil film "Parking" shared the best supporting actor trophy.

The best supporting actress honour went to Urvashi for the Malayalam movie "Ullozhokku" and Janki Bodiwala for the Gujarati title "Vash". Both movies won the best film in their respective language segments.

Ashish Bende's Marathi film bagged the award for the best debut film of a director.

Best Film in AVGC (Animation, Visual Effects, Gaming & Comic) went to Telugu film "Hanu-Man", which also won the best action direction award. "Animal", another Hindi blockbuster of 2023, won awards for best sound design, best music director (background music) and a special mention for re-recording mixer.

The National Award for best screenplay was shared between the Telugu movie "Baby" and the Tamil film "Parking". "Baby" singer PVN S Rohit was recognised as the best male playback singer for the song "Premisthunna".

The best music director for songs went to G V Prakash for the Tamil movie "Vaathi". Kasarla Shyam was named best lyricist for the Telugu movie "Balagam" song 'Ooru Palleturu'.

Deepak Kingrani was named best dialogue writer for Manoj Bajpayee-fronted Hindi film "Sirf Ek Bandaa Kaafi Hai", and best editing went to Malayalam title "Pookkaalam", and production design to another Malayalam movie "2018".

Sukriti Veni Bandreddi ("Gandhi Tatha Chettu"), Kabir Khandare ("Gypsy") and "Naal 2" cast members Treesha Thosar, Shrinivas Pokale, and Bhargav Jagtap were recognised in the best child artists category. "Naal 2" was also named best children's film.

In the language film categories, the winners were "Rongatapu 1982" (Assamese), "Deep Fridge" (Bengali), "Parking" (Tamil), "Kandeelu" (Kannada), "Shamchi Aai" (Marathi), "Puskara" (Odia), "Godday Godday Chaa" (Punjabi) and "Bhagavanth Kesari" (Telugu).

The winners for various non-feature categories were also announced, with the Hindi movie "Flowering Man" being named the best film, while the best documentary went to "God Vulture and Human". The best director award was bagged by Piyush Thakur for "The First Film", and the best script went to Chidananda Nayak's Kannada short film "Sunflowers were the First Ones to Know".