The 72nd National Film Awards Gave Best Film Prizes in 14 Languages at Ekta Nagar on 22 September 2026, and Anant Nag Received the Phalke Award

President Droupadi Murmu presented the 72nd National Film Awards at Ekta Nagar (formerly Kevadia) in Gujarat on 22 September 2026. The Ministry of Information and Broadcasting says the awards cover Indian films certified in 2024, and that its Secretary reported 400 feature films in 34 languages and 161 non-feature films in 24 languages as entries. News On AIR, the public broadcaster’s news service, counts 92 awardees at the ceremony.

The winners had been announced on 18 July 2026 in New Delhi by the chairs of the three juries. The Dadasaheb Phalke Award, which has no entries and is decided by a separate committee, went to the actor Anant Nag.

The main feature-film awards

The list below follows the Ministry’s own announcement of 18 July, which carries every category, medal and cash prize.

• Article 370 (Hindi), produced by Jio Studios and B62 Studios and directed by Aditya Suhas Jambhale, won Best Feature Film.
• Rajkumar Periasamy took Best Direction for Amaran (Tamil).
• Mammootty for Bramayugam (Malayalam) and Kartik Aaryan for Chandu Champion (Hindi) shared Best Actor in a Leading Role.
• Yami Gautam won Best Actress in a Leading Role for Article 370.
• Sanjay Mishra won Best Actor in a Supporting Role for Bhakshak (Hindi).
• Sachana Namidass for Maharaja (Tamil) and Ropashree Varkady for Mithya (Kannada) shared Best Actress in a Supporting Role.
• Swatantrya Veer Savarkar (Hindi) won Best Debut Film of a Director, for Randeep Hooda.
• Kalki 2898 AD (Telugu), produced by Vyjayanthi Movies and directed by Nag Ashwin Singireddy, was named Best Popular Film Providing Wholesome Entertainment.
• Captain Miller (Tamil) won the award for the Best Feature Film Promoting National, Social and Environmental Values.
• The Best Children’s Film award went to 35 Chinna Katha Kaadu (Telugu), directed by Nanda Kishore Emani.

The craft awards went to Shehnad Jalal for the cinematography of Bramayugam, R. Kalaivannan for the editing of Amaran, Nitin Zihani Choudhary for the production design of Kalki 2898 AD and Manas Choudhury for the sound design of Bhool Bhulaiyaa 3. Shashwat Sachdev won Best Music Direction for the songs of Article 370 and G. V. Prakash Kumar for the background music of Amaran.

The screenplay award had three winners: Bandreddi Sukumar for the original screenplay of Pushpa: The Rule Part-02, Yogesh Deshpande for the adapted screenplay of Swargandharva Sudhir Phadke (Marathi) and Venky Atluri for the dialogue of Lucky Baskhar (Telugu). Manoj Muntashir won Best Lyrics for “Jaane Do” from Maidaan, Vijay Ganguly Best Choreography for “Aaj Ki Raat” from Stree 2 and Anl Arasu Best Action Direction for Maharaja. Abhay Jodhpurkar won Best Male Playback Singer for “Navasachi Gauri Mazi” from the Marathi film Gharat Ganpati, and Vaikom Vijayalakshmi won Best Female Playback Singer for “Angu Vaana Konilu” from the Malayalam film A.R.M. Five child artists shared the Best Child Artist award, among them Athish S Shetty of Mithya, Arundev Pothula of 35 Chinna Katha Kaadu and Riddhiman Banerjee of the Bengali film Onko Ki Kothin.

Counting from the Ministry’s list, Article 370, Amaran and Mithya each took three awards, and Pushpa: The Rule Part-02, Kalki 2898 AD, Bramayugam, Maharaja and 35 Chinna Katha Kaadu took two each. News On AIR reports that Kartik Aaryan received his first National Film Award for Chandu Champion.

Best film in each language, from Hindi to Garhwali

A Best Feature Film award is given in each language listed in the Eighth Schedule of the Constitution, the Ministry’s factsheet explains, and films in other languages get separate awards. Fourteen language awards went out in 2026.

Twelve were for Schedule VIII languages: Juiphool (Assamese), Chalchitra Ekhon (Bengali), Maaran (Gujarati), Srikanth (Hindi), Mithya (Kannada), Mog Asum (Konkani), Feminichi Fathima (Malayalam), Sunita (Manipuri), Mukkam Post Bombilwadi (Marathi), Lahari (Odia), Raayan (Tamil) and Committee Kurrollu (Telugu). Two went to languages outside the Schedule: Dholi in Garhwali, directed by Dinesh P. Bhonsle, and IMBU in Tulu, directed by Shivadhwaj Shetty. Each of the 14 carries a Rajat Kamal (Silver Lotus) medal and Rs 2 lakh for the producer and the director.

The non-feature section added another language. According to the factsheet, a Santhali film was honoured in that section for the first time: Angen, directed by Ravi Raj Murmu, won Best Debut Film of a Director and a Swarna Kamal (Golden Lotus) with Rs 3 lakh. The Best Script award went to Obur, a Hindi and Kashmiri film written by Faraz Ali.

Non-feature films and writing on cinema

Bhangaar, a Marathi and English film, won Best Non-Feature Film for Sumira Roy, who is both its producer and its director. Ram-Nami, directed by Bharatbala Ganapathy, won Best Documentary. Aanand L Rai won Best Direction in this section for Statue of Unity, Ekta ka Prateek, a Hindi film.

The other non-feature winners were Kakori (Best Biographical, Historical Reconstruction or Compilation Film), Main Nida (Best Arts and Culture Film), Piplantri: A Tale of Eco Feminism (Best Film Promoting Social and Environmental Values), Touched as Water (Best Animation Film) and Hamsafar, a Marathi film, for Best Short Film of up to 30 minutes. Two films received special mentions: Bhadra-Kali Natakam in Malayalam and Chola Dora aur Sui in Hindi.

In writing on cinema, the Best Book on Cinema award went to the Kannada title Naaniruvude Nimagaagi Naadiruvude Nanagaagi by Kenchanuru Pradeep Kumar Shetty, published by Mirror Pusthaka. Sanjeev Shrivastava won Best Film Critic in Hindi. Each of the two carries a Swarna Kamal and Rs 1 lakh.

From 400 entries to the winners

Entries are invited each year for films certified by the Central Board of Film Certification in the preceding calendar year, the factsheet says. A feature film must run for more than 72 minutes and carry English subtitles. Since the 57th edition, five regional panels shortlist feature entries from every part of the country and a central panel decides the winners. For the 72nd edition the central panel had 11 members under the filmmaker Jayaraj. The Non-Feature Film jury, chaired by Aseem Sinha, had seven members, and the Best Writing on Cinema jury, chaired by A. Chandrasekhar, had three.

At the ceremony, Secretary Chanchal Kumar said 22 feature-film awards and 23 non-feature awards were conferred. The awards were instituted in 1954, and the first edition, for the films of 1953, gave seven honours, with the President’s Gold Medal for Best All-India Feature Film going to the Marathi film Shyamchi Aai, according to the factsheet.

Anant Nag and the Phalke Award

The Dadasaheb Phalke Award for 2024 was announced on 16 September 2026. The Ministry describes Anant Nag, born on 4 September 1948 in Karnataka, as an actor with a career of more than five decades and over 300 films in Kannada, Hindi, Telugu, Malayalam, Tamil and Marathi. He debuted in the Kannada film Sankalp and in Hindi in Ankur, and his television work includes Malgudi Days. He has won five Filmfare Awards and five Karnataka State Best Actor Awards, and received the Padma Bhushan in 2025. The Phalke Award consists of a Swarna Kamal medallion, a shawl and Rs 10 lakh. For the award’s history and the man it is named after, see Dadasaheb Phalke and the first Indian film.

Nag, according to the Ministry’s account of the ceremony, said he grew up in an ashram before being sent to Mumbai, where he got a chance to act in a play. He went on to perform in around 50 plays before entering films, worked in films by the director Shyam Benegal, and chose Kannada cinema, making Bengaluru his karmabhoomi, or place of work, the release says.

A ceremony outside Delhi

The Ministry chose Ekta Nagar, in Gujarat’s Narmada district, as the venue, and News On AIR describes the ceremony as held against the backdrop of the Statue of Unity. The Governor of Gujarat, Acharya Devvrat, thanked the Ministry for beginning the tradition of holding the awards outside Delhi. Secretary Kumar called the move an initiative inspired by the vision of Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel for national unity, and said the ceremony is envisaged for other cities in the coming years.

In her address, the President said Indian cinema reflects the country’s diverse languages, traditions, aspirations and struggles. She also called for dignity and social security for workers and small artists in the creative economy, and for women’s participation in all juries.

The Minister, Ashwini Vaishnaw, said the plan is to take the awards to tourist destinations in different states and Union Territories, and invited them to pitch for future editions. News On AIR quotes him as tying the idea to India’s G20 presidency, when more than 200 meetings were held in over 60 cities. He also announced that the next edition of WAVES will be held in October 2027. As of 29 October 2026, the Ministry’s releases name no venue for the 73rd edition.