Data: 50% of the Best Feature Film Awards in the National Film Awards went to Bengali & Malayalam Films

Data from the 70 editions of the national film awards indicate Bengali and Malayalam films dominated the Best Feature Film category with half of the awards in the last 70 years going to them, with Bengali films leading the count with 22 awards, followed by Malayalam with 13, and Hindi films with 12. However, in the past ten editions of these awards, 8 films from various languages other than Hindi & Bengali have claimed the Best Feature Film award, highlighting a significant shift away from the traditional dominance of Hindi and Bengali films.

Cinema, as a powerful medium of artistic expression, uniquely conveys ideas, stories, and opinions, with an influence that permeates daily life, shaping culture and sparking important conversations. Given its significant impact on society, governments recognize cinema with different awards. The National Film Awards, India’s most prestigious honours in cinema, celebrate films that not only excel artistically and technically but also address socially relevant themes. These awards aim to promote national unity by showcasing the country’s diverse cultures through film.

As the 70^th National Film Awards are set to be presented on 8 October 2024, we explore the inception, evolution, and key trends of these awards over the years.

Explore clean, standardized, granular datasets on National Film Awards only on Dataful

Genesis of National Film Awards

The National Film Awards, instituted in 1954 to recognize films from the preceding year, originally began as the ‘State Awards.’ In the early years, the honours included two President’s Gold Medals, two certificates of merit, and 12 silver medals for regional films. The awards were created to encourage films that not only met high aesthetic and technical standards but also carried educational and cultural significance. The Film Enquiry Committee of 1949, which recommended establishing the awards, also called for regional recognition of feature films. For the first six years, the best regional film was treated as equivalent to the National Best Film award.

As the awards evolved, the number of categories expanded, and today, the National Film Awards recognize excellence in three major sections: Feature Films, Non-Feature Films, and Best Writing on Cinema. Additionally, the Most Film Friendly State award is given to an Indian state that promotes the growth of the film industry by facilitating ease of filming and supporting skill development. Both the National Film Awards and the Dadasaheb Phalke Award, the highest honour in Indian cinema, are presented by the President of India.

Bengali and Malayalam movies dominate the National Best Feature Film Award

The National Film Award for Best Feature Film is one of the most prestigious honours in the annual National Film Awards. This accolade, part of a broader set of awards for feature films, is accompanied by the Golden Lotus (Swarna Kamal) and is awarded to films produced in various Indian languages across the country. As of 2024, the award comes with a Swarna Kamal, a certificate, and a cash prize of ₹3,00,000.

The inaugural award then called the “President’s Gold Medal for the All India Best Feature Film,” was presented to the Marathi film Shyamchi Aai. Over the years, a total of 70 National Film Awards for Best Feature Film have been conferred. No award was presented in the 26^th edition of the National Film Awards, while the 59^th edition marked a unique instance where two films shared the Best Feature Film award.

Regional cinema has had a strong presence, with Bengali and Malayalam films making up nearly half of all awards in this category. Bengali films lead the count with 22 awards, followed by Malayalam with 13, and Hindi films with 12. Kannada cinema has received 6 awards, Marathi 4, Tamil 3, Assamese and Sanskrit twice and both Gujarati and Telugu films have won the award once each.

Best Feature Film Awards Moving Beyond Hindi and Bengali languages

Examining the dominance of specific languages in the overall award tally raises the question of whether this trend still holds. A notable observation is that among the first 30 editions of the National Film Awards for Best Feature Films, 22 awards were shared between just two languages—Bengali, with 14 awards, and Hindi, with 7. As noted earlier, Bengali films have won 22 times, while Hindi films have secured 12 awards, with more than half of these awards given within the first 30 editions of these awards. The last time a Hindi film won the Best Feature Film award was at the 60th edition, while the last Bengali winner was at the 56th edition.

In contrast, Malayalam cinema has garnered 13 awards, with 7 of those during the last 25 editions of the National Film Awards. Additionally, a Telugu film received the sole award at the 63^rd National Film Awards. In the past ten editions of these awards, 8 films from various languages other than Hind & Bengali have claimed the Best Feature Film award, highlighting a significant shift away from the traditional dominance of Hindi and Bengali films toward a more diverse representation in Indian cinema.

Satyajit Ray: A six-time winner of Best Feature Film Awards

Among directors, Satyajit Ray leads the pack with six Best Feature Film awards for his films, followed closely by Buddhadeb Dasgupta with five. Girish Kasaravalli and Mrinal Sen have each received the award for four films, while Shaji N. Karun has won it three times. Adoor Gopalakrishnan, G. V. Iyer, Priyadarshan, and Tapan Sinha have each been recognized twice. Collectively, these nine directors represent 43% of all Best Feature Film awards in India.

Four of these nine directors- Satyajit Ray, Mrinal Sen, Adoor Gopalakrishnan and Tapan Sinha, were also awarded the prestigious Dadasaheb Phalke Award.

Bollywood Industry dominates Dadasaheb Phalke Awards

The Dadasaheb Phalke Award, the highest accolade in Indian cinema, is presented annually during the National Film Awards ceremony. Established by the Government of India in 1969 to honour Dadasaheb Phalke’s pioneering contributions to Indian filmmaking, the award was first conferred upon actress Devika Rani at the 17^th National Film Awards.

As of 2024, a total of 54 individuals have been honoured with the Dadasaheb Phalke Award. Of these, around 30 recipients hail from the Hindi film industry, followed by 11 from Bengali cinema, 6 from Telugu, 3 from Tamil, and one each from Assamese, Kannada, Malayalam, and Marathi industries. Notably, Prithviraj Kapoor (1971) and Vinod Khanna (2017) are the only posthumous recipients of this prestigious award.

In recent years, the Dadasaheb Phalke Award has faced controversy, with critics claiming it is being used as a tool to gain political advantage. There have been allegations that the selection process has, at times, been influenced by political considerations, undermining the award’s original purpose of honouring lifetime contributions to Indian cinema.

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