The 44th

National Film Awards The National Film Awards is the most prominent film award ceremony in India. Established in 1954, it has been administered, along with the International Film Festival of India and the Indian Panorama, by the Indian government's Directorat ...

, presented by

Directorate of Film Festivals The Directorate of Film Festivals in India was an organisation that initiated and presented the International Film Festival of India, the National Film Awards and the Indian Panorama. Although the Directorate helped appoint members of the jur ...

, the organisation set up by Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, India to felicitate the best of

Indian Cinema The Cinema of India consists of motion pictures produced in India, which had a large effect on world cinema since the late 20th century. Major centers of film production across the country include Mumbai, Chennai, Hyderabad, Visakhapatnam, Ko ...

released in the year 1996. The awards were announced on 6 May 1997, and presented in July.

Awards

Awards were divided into feature films, non-feature films and books written on Indian cinema.

Lifetime Achievement Award

Introduced in 1969, the

Dadasaheb Phalke Award The Dadasaheb Phalke Award is India's highest award in the field of cinema. It is presented annually at the National Film Awards ceremony by the Directorate of Film Festivals, an organisation set up by the Ministry of Information and Broadca ...

is the highest award given to recognise the contributions of film personalities towards the development of Indian cinema and for distinguished contributions to the medium, its growth and promotion.

Feature films

Feature films were awarded at All India as well as regional level. For 44th National Film Awards, a Bengali film, ''

Lal Darja ''Lal Darja'' (English language: ''The Red Door'') is a 1997 Bengali allegorical drama film about a Kolkata dentist Dr. Nabin Dutta who fears becoming a cripple. Directed and written by Buddhadev Dasgupta, he film won the Golden Lotus Award fo ...

'' won the

National Film Award for Best Feature Film The National Award for Best Feature Film is one of the categories in the National Film Awards presented annually by the Directorate of Film Festivals, the organisation set up by Ministry of Information and Broadcasting in India. It is one of sev ...

, whereas a

Tamil film Tamil cinema, also known as Kollywood is a part of Indian Cinema; primarily engaged in production of motion pictures in the Tamil language. Based out of the Kodambakkam neighbourhood in Chennai, Tamil Nadu, it is popularly called ''Kollywood' ...

Minsara Kanavu ''Minsara Kanavu'' () is a 1997 Indian Tamil-language musical romantic drama film that was co-written and directed by Rajiv Menon. The film stars Arvind Swamy, Prabhu Deva, and Kajol in her Tamil debut, and revolves around Priya (Kajol), a con ...

won the maximum number of awards (4). Following were the awards given in each category:

Juries

A committee headed by

T. Subbarami Reddy T. Subbarami Reddy (born 17 September 1943) is an Indian industrialist, politician, Telugu cinema, film producer, and a philanthropist. In 1993 he produced the Sanskrit film ''Bhagavad Gita (film), Bhagavad Gita'', which garnered the National Fi ...

was appointed to evaluate the feature films awards. Following were the jury members: * Jury Members **

(Chairperson)

Basu Chatterjee Basu Chatterjee ( bn, বাসু চ্যাটার্জ্জী; 10 January 1927 – 4 June 2020) was an Indian film director and screenwriter. Through the 1970s and 1980s, Chatterjee became associated with what came to be known as mi ...

Charuhasan S. Charuhasan (born 5 January 1931) is an Indian actor, director and retired lawyer who has acted in Tamil, Kannada, Telugu, Malayalam and Hindi films. He won the National Film Award for Best ActorSubha J Rao,Entertainment for a cause, The Hind ...

Madhu Madhu (Sanskrit: ) is a word used in several Indo-Aryan languages meaning ''honey'' or ''sweet''. It is ultimately derived from Proto-Indo-European ''*médʰu'', whence English '' mead''. Metaphorical use ''Madhu'' has been used for millennia si ...

Mike Pandey Mike H. Pandey is an Indian film maker, specializing in films about wildlife and the environment. He has won over 300 awards for his work to spread awareness about biodiversity and species conservation, including helping conserve and protect k ...

Nirad N. Mohapatra Nirad Narayan Mohapatra (12 November 1947 – 19 February 2015) was an Indian film director. Mohapatra was born in the Indian state of Odisha. He directed the Oriya language film ''Maya Miriga'', television soap operas and documentaries. Earl ...

Vijaya Mulay **Raghav Menon

Sushma Shiromani Sushma Shiromani is an actress, IMPPA (Indian Motion Pictures' Producers Association) vice-president and director, known for ''Kanoon'' (1994), ''Pyar ka Karz'' (1990) and ''Bijli'' and Marathi films like ''Bhingari'', ''Fadakadi'', and ''Kadak La ...

Jwngdao Bodosa

M. S. Sathyu Mysore Shrinivas Sathyu ( kn, ಮೈಸೂರು ಶ್ರೀನಿವಾಸ ಸತ್ಯು) (born 6 July 1930) is a leading film director, stage designer and art director from India. He is best known for his directorial ''Garm Hava'' (1973), ...

G. Venkateswaran G. Venkateswaran (died 3 May 2003), popularly known as G.V., was an Indian film producer and chartered accountant. He was the elder brother of director and screenwriter Mani Ratnam and G. Srinivasan. Venkateswaran was the promoter of GV Films, ...

D. Ramanaidu Daggubati Ramanaidu (6 June 1936 – 18 February 2015) was an Indian film producer known for his work in Telugu cinema. He founded Suresh Productions in 1964 which became of one of the largest film production companies in India. He was placed i ...

Swaraj LambaSwapan Kumar Ghosh

All India Award

Following were the awards given:

= Golden Lotus Award

= Official Name: Swarna Kamal All the awardees are awarded with 'Golden Lotus Award (Swarna Kamal)', a certificate and cash prize.

= Silver Lotus Award

= Official Name: Rajat Kamal All the awardees are awarded with 'Silver Lotus Award (Rajat Kamal)', a certificate and cash prize.

Regional Awards

The award is given to best film in the regional languages in India.

Non-Feature Films

Short Films made in any Indian language and certified by the Central Board of Film Certification as a documentary/newsreel/fiction are eligible for non-feature film section.

Juries

A committee headed by N. S. Thapa was appointed to evaluate the non-feature films awards. Following were the jury members: * Jury Members ** N. S. Thapa (Chairperson) Swapna SundariMeera Dewan

Sukumaran Edappal Ponnamkuzhi Veettil Parameswaran Sukumaran Nair (10 June 1948 – 16 June 1997), known mononymously as Sukumaran, was an Indian actor and producer of Malayalam films. Sukumaran became a popular film star in Malayalam cinema during the 1 ...

Punathil Kunjabdulla Punathil Kunjabdulla (3 April 1940 – 27 October 2017) was an Indian writer from Kerala. A medical doctor by profession, Kunjabdulla was a practitioner of the avant-garde in Malayalam literature. His work includes more than 45 books, including ...

Golden Lotus Award

Official Name: Swarna Kamal All the awardees are awarded with 'Golden Lotus Award (Swarna Kamal)', a certificate and cash prize.

Silver Lotus Award

Official Name: Rajat Kamal All the awardees are awarded with 'Silver Lotus Award (Rajat Kamal)' and cash prize.

Best Writing on Cinema

The awards aim at encouraging study and appreciation of cinema as an art form and dissemination of information and critical appreciation of this art-form through publication of books, articles, reviews etc.

Juries

A committee headed by

Khalid Mohamed Khalid Mohamed is an Indian journalist, editor, film critic, screenwriter and film director. He formerly worked for the ''Hindustan Times'' and was the lead editor for ''Filmfare'' magazine. He is the son of Hindi film actress Zubeida Begum, ...

was appointed to evaluate the writing on Indian cinema. Following were the jury members: * Jury Members **

(Chairperson)Pritiman Sarkar

V. K. Madhavan Kutty V. K. Madhavan Kutty (17 January 1934 – 1 November 2005) was a journalist from the state of Kerala, India. He was long associated with the ''Mathrubhumi'' newspaper, a Malayalam daily based out of Kozhikode. He was stationed at New Delhi as ...

Golden Lotus Award

Official Name: Swarna Kamal All the awardees are awarded with 'Golden Lotus Award (Swarna Kamal)' and cash prize.

Awards not given

Following were the awards not given as no film was found to be suitable for the award: * Best Film on Environment / Conservation / Preservation * Best Feature Film in Manipuri * Best Feature Film in Punjabi * Best Feature Film in English * Best Non-Feature Film Direction * Best Anthropological / Ethnographic Film * Best Promotional Film * Best Scientific Film * Best Environment / Conservation / Preservation Film * Best Agricultural Film * Best Historical Reconstruction / Compilation Film * Best Exploration / Adventure Film * Best Music Direction

References

External links

National Film Awards Archives

Official Page for Directorate of Film Festivals, India
{{National Film Awards National Film Awards (India) ceremonies 1997 Indian film awards