66th National Film Awards ceremony 2019(Current Affairs)

The 66th National Film Awards ceremony was the award ceremony which took place in 2019 to honour the best films of 2018, in the Indian cinema. 

A total of 31 awards were announced in the feature film category and 23 awards in the non-feature film category.

Earlier, The Chairpersons (Rahul Rawal) and other Jury Members submitted a report on 66th National Film Awards to Union Minister Shri Prakash Javadekar.

Some important 66th National Film Awards for 2018

Gujarati film Hellaro wins Best Feature Film Award.

Badhaai Ho bags award for Best Popular Film Providing Wholesome Entertainment.

Hindi movie Padman declared Best Film on Social Issues.

Aditya Dhar wins Best Director Award for Uri: The Surgical Strike.

Ayushman Khurana and Vicky Kaushal jointly win Best Actor Award for their performances in Andhadhun and Uri: The Surgical Strike.

Keerthy Suresh bags Best Actress trophy for her performance in Telugu movie Mahanati.

Marathi movie Paani wins the award for Best Film on Environment Conservation/ Preservation.

Kannada film Ondalla Eradalla gets Nargis Dutt Award for Best Feature Film on National Integration

About National Film Awards

The National Film Awards were established in the year 1954. These awards are given for the best films in each region and language of the country which were produced in the previous year across the country.

Winners in different categories of these awards are selected by a national panel of Juries appointed by Union Government. These awards are presented by the President of India in the official ceremony. Due to the national scale of the National Film Awards, it is considered the Indian equivalent of the American Academy Awards.

Background

The first Awards were presented in 1954.

The Government of India conceived the ceremony to honour films made across India, on a national scale, to encourage the furthering of Indian art and culture.

Since 1973, the Indian Directorate of Film Festivals administers the ceremony along with other major film events in India annually.

It is the highest award given for films in India.

66th National Film Awards

On 9th August 2019, the 66th National Film Awards for the year 2018 were announced by Ministry of Information and Broadcasting(I&B). 

Note:

There are three broad categories – feature film, non-feature film and Best Writing on Cinema.

About 100 hundred movies made in India make it to the jury every year.

Each award comes with a medallion, a cash prize, and a citation.

Best Feature Film

'Hellaro'

Gujarati movie 'Hellaro' won the National Film Award for Best Feature Film at the 66th National Film Awards. The film was written and directed by Abhishek Shah. The film was shot in a set of the village created in Rann of Kutch. 

Best Actor

Ayushmann Khurrana & Vicky Kaushal

Actor Ayushmann Khurrana and Vicky Kaushal were honoured at the 66th National Film Awards for their performances in the Hindi films Andhadhun and Uri: The Surgical Strike, respectively.

(i) Andhadhun: (Crime thriller film)

'Andhadhun' is a 2018 Indian black comedy crime thriller film that was co-written and directed by Sriram Raghavan, produced by Matchbox Pictures, and distributed by Viacom18 Motion Pictures and Eros International.

The film stars Tabu, Ayushmann Khurrana and Radhika Apte, and tells the story of a blind piano player who unwittingly becomes embroiled in the murder of a former film actor.

(ii) Uri: The Surgical Strike: (Military action film)

Uri: The Surgical Strike is the directorial debut of Aditya Dhar who also wrote the film. It features Vicky Kaushal, Paresh Rawal, Mohit Rainaand Yami Gautam in lead roles.

The film is a dramatised account of the retaliation to the 2016 Uri attack.

It follows Major Vihaan Singh Shergill of the Indian Army, who plays a leading role in the events.

It won four National Film Awards, including Best Direction (Dhar) and Best Actor (Kaushal). 

Best Actress

Keerthy Suresh

Keerthy Suresh (26-years) won the Best Actress award at the 66th National Film Awards for her portrayal of legendary actor Savitri in the bilingual biopic Mahanati.

She is the daughter of producer Suresh Kumar and actress Menaka.

She went on to star in such films as Ring Master (2014), Idhu Enna Maayam (2015), Rajini Murugan (2016), Remo (2016), Nenu Sailaja (2016), Bairavaa (2016), Nenu Local (2017), Thaana Serndha Kootam (2018), Mahanati (2018), Sandakozhi 2 (2018) and Sarkar (2018).

Best Director

Aditya Dhar

Indian writer, director and lyricist Aditya Dhar (36-years) got the best director award for this film at the 66th National Film Awards in 2019.

Aditya Dhar made his directorial debut with Uri: The Surgical Strike, which was based on the 2016 Uri attack.

Aditya Dhar has been associated with films like Kabul Express, Tezz, Aakrosh, Haal-e-Dil among others in different capacities like dialogue writer, screenplay writer and lyrics writer.

Best Hindi Film

'Andhadhun'

Sriram Raghavan's 'Andhadhun' has won the award for the best Hindi film.

'Andhadhun' is a 2018 Indian black comedy crime thriller film that was co-written and directed by Sriram Raghavan, produced by Matchbox Pictures, and distributed by Viacom18 Motion Pictures and Eros International.

The film stars Tabu, Ayushmann Khurrana and Radhika Apte, and tells the story of a blind piano player who unwittingly becomes embroiled in the murder of a former film actor.

Best Popular Film

'Badhaai Ho'

'Badhaai Ho' has won the Award for a Film Providing Wholesome Entertainment. 

Movie 'Badhaai Ho' tells the story of a middle-aged couple who get pregnant much to the disappointment of their adult son. The film is produced by Vineet Jain, Hemant Bhandari and Aleya Sen under the banner of Junglee Pictures and Chrome Pictures.

Badhaai Ho written by Shantanu Srivastava and Akshat Ghildial.

 List of Other Awards are as follows:

The list of Award winners under the different categories is mentioned as under:

Different CategoriesFilms/WinnerBest Feature FilmHellaro (Gujarati Film)Best non-feature filmSon Rise by Vibha Bakshi and The Secret Life of Frogs by Ajay and Vijay BediBest DirectorAdhitya Dhar for Uri : The Surgical StrikeBest ActorAyushmann Khuranna for Andhadhun and Vicky Kaushal for Uri : The Surgical StrikeBest ActressKeerthy Suresh for MahanatiBest Supporting ActorSwanand Kirkire for ChumbhakBest supporting actressSurekha Sikri for Badhaai HoBest Action DirectionKGF Chapter IBest ChoreographyPadmaavat for GhumarBest CinematographyMJ Radhakrishnan for Olu (Malayalam)Best Educational FilmSarala ViralaBest Popular FilmBadhaai HoBest film on Environment issuesPaaniBest Debut Film of a DirectorNaal (Marathi)Best Film for National IntegrationOndalla Eradalla (Kannada)Best film on Social IssuesPadmanBest Child artistP V Rohith (Kannada), Sameep Singh (Punjabi), Talha Arshad Reshi (Urdu) and Shrinivas Pokale (Marathi)Best Children’s FilmSarkari Area Prathamika Shaale KasaragodBest Special EffectsKGFSpecial Jury AwardSruthi Hariharan, Joju George for Joseph, Savithri for Sudani From Nigeria, Chandrachood RaiBest Film on Environment Conservation/PreservationPaaniBest LyricsNathichirami (Kannada)Best Music Direction (Songs)Sanjay Leela Bhansali for PadmaavatBest Music Direction (Background score)Uri: The Surgical StrikeBest Sound DesignUri: The Surgical StrikeBest Female playback SingerBindu for Mayavi Manave (Kannada)Best Male Playback SingerArijit Singh for Bhinte DhilBest Original ScreenplayChi La SowBest Adapted ScreenplayAndhadhunBest DialoguesTariqhBest Hindi FilmAndhadhunBest Urdu FilmHamidBest Telugu FilmMahanatiBest Assamese FilmBulbul Can SingBest Punjabi FilmHarjeetaBest Tamil FilmBaaramBest Marathi FilmBhonga