National Film Awards: President Droupadi Murmu today conferred the 70th National Film Awards for the year 2022 in New Delhi. On this occasion, legendary actor Mithun Chakraborty was honoured with the Dadasaheb Phalke Award, the highest recognition in the field of cinema. Information and Broadcasting Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw and Minister of State for Information and Broadcasting Dr. L. Murugan were also present at the event.
Addressing the gathering, the President congratulated actor Mithun Chakraborty for receiving the award. President Murmu highlighted and appreciated the contributions made by Mr. Chakraborty in the film industry. The President also appreciated the awarded films, stating that these films will bring a positive change in society.
Speaking on the occasion, Information and broadcasting Minister Mr. Vaishnaw said that the government is working towards developing the film industry with a three-pronged approach: Talent Development, Infrastructure, and Simplification. He said the collective efforts of all stakeholders create the magic of Indian cinema. These films honored today were initiated during the pandemic and showcase the resilience of our society and country.
The Minister highlighted that nine debut directors were recognized for their bold storytelling. Underscoring the National Creators Award initiative, he said that the NDA government, in its historic third term, is committed to providing a dimension to this creator economy.
In his welcome address, Secretary of Information and Broadcasting Sanjay Jaju said that for the year 2022, the Ministry had received entries of a total of 309 films in 32 different languages in the feature film category and 128 films in 17 languages in the non-feature category.
Film critic Deepak Dua has been honored with the Golden Lotus Award (Swarna Kamal) under the Best Critic Award category. Anirudha Bhattacharjee and Parthiv Dhar received the Golden Lotus under the Best Book on Cinema category for the book Kishore Kumar: The Ultimate Biography. Hargila – The Greater Adjutant Stork (Assamese) won a ‘Special Mention’ in the Non-Feature Films category. The Best Feature Film was awarded to the Malayalam film Aattam, while Ayena was recognized as the Best Non-Feature Film.
Sooraj Barjatya was honored as the Best Director for his film Uunchai. In the feature film category, Gulmohar received the Best Hindi Film award, and the Haryanvi film Fouja received the Best Lyrics award in the non-feature film category. Filmmaker Karan Johar received the ‘Best Film in AVGC’ award for the film Brahmastra Part I.
In the music category, Arijit Singh was awarded Best Male Playback Singer, and Bombay Jayashri received the Best Female Playback Singer award. Other notable films, including Ponniyin Selvan Part I, KGF 2, Brahmastra, Aparajito, Emuthi Puthi, Kaberi Antardhan, Daman, and Baghi Di Dhee, were also recognized for their contributions.
Rishab Shetty received the Best Actor award for his outstanding performance in the Kannada film Kantara, while the Best Actress award was given to Nithya Menen for the Tamil film Thiruchitrambalam and Manasi Parekh for the Gujarati film Kutch Express.
