21st National Film Awards

The 21st National Film Awards, presented by Directorate of Film Festivals, the organisation set up by Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, India to felicitate the best of Indian Cinema released in the year 1973.[1] Ceremony took place in October 1974 and awards were given by Prime Minister Indira Gandhi.

21st National Film Awards
21st National Film Awards
Awarded forBest of Indian cinema in 1973
Awarded byDirectorate of Film Festivals
Presented byIndira Gandhi
(Prime Minister of India)
Announced on20 July 1974 (1974-07-20)
Presented onOctober 1974 (1974-10)
SiteVigyan Bhavan, New Delhi
Official websitedff.nic.in
Highlights
Best Feature FilmNirmalyam
Dadasaheb Phalke AwardRuby Myers
Most awards • Ashani Sanket
 • Kaadu (3)

Juries

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Prior to 21st National Film Awards, there used to be regional committees at Bombay (Mumbai), Calcutta (Kolkata) and Madras (Chennai), the recommendations of which were then considered by central committee. To avoid this long-winded process, regional committees were discarded.

Two different committees were formed for feature films and short films, headed by Romesh Thapar and S. K. Kooka respectively.[1]

Awards

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Awards were divided into feature films and non-feature films.

President's gold medal for the All India Best Feature Film is now better known as National Film Award for Best Feature Film, whereas President's gold medal for the Best Documentary Film is analogous to today's National Film Award for Best Non-Feature Film. For children's films, Prime Minister's gold medal is now given as National Film Award for Best Children's Film. At the regional level, President's silver medal for Best Feature Film is now given as National Film Award for Best Feature Film in a particular language. Certificate of Merit in all the categories is discontinued over the years.

Lifetime Achievement Award

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Award Image Awardee(s) Awarded As Cash Prize
Dadasaheb Phalke Award   Ruby Myers (Sulochana) Actress 20,000, a gold medal and a shawl

Feature films

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Feature films were awarded at All India as well as regional level. For 21st National Film Awards, a Malayalam film Nirmalyam won the President's gold medal for the All India Best Feature Film; whereas a Bengali film Ashani Sanket and a Kannada film Kaadu won the maximum number of awards (three). Following were the awards given in each category:[1]

All India Award

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Following were the awards given:[1]

Award Film Language Awardee(s) Cash Prize
Best Feature Film Nirmalyam[a] Malayalam Producer: M. T. Vasudevan Nair Gold Medal and 40,000
Director: M. T. Vasudevan Nair
Second Best Feature Film Kaadu[b] Kannada Producer: K. N. Narayan Silver Medal and 15,000
Producer: G. N. Lakshmipathy
Director: Girish Karnad Silver Medal and 10,000
Best Feature Film on National Integration Garm Hava[c] Hindi Producer: M/s Unit 3 MM A Medal and 30,000
Director: M. S. Sathyu A Medal and 20,000
Best Cinematography (Black and White) 27 Down Hindi Apurba Kishore Bir Silver Medal and 5,000
Best Cinematography (Color) Ashani Sanket Bengali Soumendu Roy Silver Medal and 5,000
Best Direction Duvidha Hindi Mani Kaul Silver Medal and 20,000
Best Actor (Bharat Award) Nirmalyam Malayalam P. J. Antony A figurine
Best Actress (Urvashi Award) Kaadu Kannada Nandini Bhaktavatsala A figurine
Best Child Artist Kaadu Kannada G. S. Nataraj Silver Medal
Best Male Playback Singer Gayathri Malayalam K. J. Yesudas Silver Medal
Best Music Direction Ashani Sanket Bengali Satyajit Ray Silver Medal and 10,000
Best Screenplay Padatik Bengali Mrinal Sen Silver Medal and 10,000
Ashish Burman
Best Story Garm Hava Hindi Ismat Chughtai Silver Medal and 10,000
Kaifi Azmi

Regional Award

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The awards were given to the best films made in the regional languages of India. For feature films in English, Gujarati, Kashmiri, Meitei, Marathi, Oriya, Punjabi and Telugu language, President's silver medal for Best Feature Film was not given. The producer of the film was awarded with a silver medal and 10,000, the director of the film was awarded with a silver medal and 5,000, and leading actors were awarded with a souvenir.[1]

Award Film Awardee(s)
Producer Director Actor Actress
Best Feature Film in Assamese Mamta Nalin Dowerah Eva Achow Rudra Baruah Nalin Dowerah
Prafulla Dutta
Shiba Thakur
Best Feature Film in Bengali Ashani Sanket Sarbeni Bhattacharya Satyajit Ray Soumitra Chatterjee Bobita
Best Feature Film in Hindi 27 Down Awatar Krishna Kaul Awatar Krishna Kaul M. K. Raina Raakhee
Best Feature Film in Kannada Abachurina Post Office Patre C. Vinayak N. Lakshminarayan B. N. Narayan Girija
Best Feature Film in Malayalam Gayathri A. R. Shreedharan Elayidom P. N. Menon V. Raghavan Jayabharathi
P. B. Ashram
Best Feature Film in Tamil Dikkatra Parvathi M/s Navatarang Singeetam Srinivasa Rao Srikanth Lakshmi

Non-Feature films

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Following were the awards given:[1]

Short films and Documentaries

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Award Film Language Awardee(s) Cash Prize
Best Information Film (Documentary) The Flame Burns Bright English Producer: Ashish Mukherjee Silver Medal and 5,000
Director: Ashish Mukherjee
Best Educational / Instructional Film Sath Kutch Na Jayega Hindi Producer: Dhiru Mistry Silver Medal and 5,000
Director: Sureshwar Singh
Best Film on Social Documentation Land of Krishna English Producer: G. L. Bhardwaj Silver Medal and 5,000
Director: G. L. Bhardwaj
Best Promotional Film (Commercial) Delhi the City Beautiful English Producer: Jagdish Banerjee Silver Medal
Director: Jagdish Banerjee
Best Promotional Film (Non-Commercial) Fibre The Fabric of Life English Producer: Khadi and Village Industries Commission Silver Medal
Director: G. L. Bhardwaj
Best Experimental Film Homi Bhabha - A Scientist in Action English Producer: Jagat Murari Silver Medal and 5,000
Director: K. Vishwanath Silver Medal and 4,000

Awards not given

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Following were the awards not given as no film was found to be suitable for the award:[1]

Explanatory notes

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  1. ^ P. J. Antony (Leading Actor) and Sumithra (Leading Actress) were awarded with the souvenir.
  2. ^ Amrish Puri (Leading Actor) and Nandini Bhaktavatsala (Leading Actress) were awarded with the souvenir.
  3. ^ Geeta Siddharth (Leading Actress) was awarded with the souvenir.

References

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  1. ^ a b c d e f g "21st National Film Awards" (PDF). Directorate of Film Festivals. Archived (PDF) from the original on 10 October 2019. Retrieved 2 September 2020.
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