• The winners of the 69^th National Film Awards were announced recently.

WINNERS INCLUDED-

• Allu Arjun bagged the Best Actor award for the film Pushpa: The Rise,
• Alia Bhatt and Kriti Sanon shared the award for Best Actress for the films Gangubai Kathiawadi and Mimi respectively.
• Rocketry: The Nambi Effect won the award for Best Feature Film.
• The Kashmir Files won the Nargis Dutt Award for Best Film on National Integration
• Shoojit Sircar’s biographical historical drama Sardar Udham won Best Hindi Film, Best Cinematography (Avik Mukhopadhyay), Best Audiography (Sinoy Joseph), Best Production Design (Dmitrii Malich and Mansi Dhruv Mehta) and Best Costume Design (Veera Kapur Ee) awards.

ABOUT THE AWARD

Nargis was the first actor to win Best Actress for her performance in Raat Aur Din. Uttam Kumar won the Best Actor award for Antony Firingee and Chiriyakhana in the same year.

• The awards aim at encouraging the production of films of aesthetic and technical excellence and social relevance.
• The awards were first handed out in 1954 and were known as the ‘State Awards’. At the time, only best films in different regional languages were recognised and awarded.
• The awards for actors and technicians working on the films were first given in 1967.
• They are presented by the President of India.