The 39th National Film Awards, 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 jury ...

, 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, ...

released in the year 1991. Ceremony took place in 1992. With 39th National Film Awards, two new awards were introduced for feature films section. These awards includes

National Film Award for Best Special Effects The National Film Award for Best Special Effects is one of the National Film Awards presented annually by the Directorate of Film Festivals, the organisation set up by Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, India. It is one of several awards ...

and

National Film Award for Best Choreography The National Film Award for Best Choreography is one of the National Film Awards presented annually by the Directorate of Film Festivals, the organization set up by Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, India. It is one of several awards p ...

and awarded with Rajat Kamal (Silver Lotus). These two newly introduced awards were not given for 39th National Film Awards as no film/entry was found to be suitable. Also for Best Writing on Cinema, Best Film Critic is awarded with Swarna Kamal (Golden Lotus), which was till then awarded with Rajat Kamal (Silver Lotus).

Awards

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

Lifetime Achievement Award

Feature films

Feature films were awarded at All India as well as regional level. For 39th National Film Awards, a Bengali film, ''

Agantuk ''Agantuk'' () is a 1991 Bengali-language drama film written and directed by Satyajit Ray. Notable for being Ray's last film, it was based on one of his own short stories, ''Atithi''. A joint Indo-French production, it received financial backin ...

'' 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 se ...

also winning the maximum number of awards (3) along with a Malayalam film, ''

Bharatham ''Bharatham'' is a 1991 Indian Malayalam-language musical drama film written by A. K. Lohithadas and directed by Sibi Malayil. It stars Mohanlal, Urvashi, Nedumudi Venu, Lakshmi, and Murali. The film was produced by Mohanlal through his produc ...

'' and a Hindi film, ''

Dharavi Dharavi is a locality in Mumbai, Maharashtra, India, considered to be one of the world's largest slums. Dharavi has an area of just over and a population of about 1,000,000. With a population density of over , Dharavi is one of the most dens ...

''. Following were the awards given in each category:

Juries

A committee headed by

Adoor Gopalakrishnan Adoor Gopalakrishnan (born 3 July 1941) is an Indian film director, script writer, and producer and is regarded as one of the most notable and renowned filmmakers in India. With the release of his first feature film '' Swayamvaram'' (1972), Go ...

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

(Chairperson) Aamir Raza HusainAshish SarafFirooze Rangoonwala Gummadi

Hema Chaudhary Durga Prabha, known by her stage name, Hema Chaudhary (born 1955) is an Indian actress who has predominantly acted in Kannada, Telugu, Malayalam and Tamil films. Starting her career as a lead actress in the Telugu film ''Pelli Kani Pelli'' in ...

R. Lakshman Lalitha Ravee

Nabyendu Chatterjee Nabyendu Chatterjee (1937 – 14 January 2009) was an Indian Bengali and Hindi film director and producer. In 1991 he received 38th National Award for the Best Feature Film in Bengali. Career Chatterjee started his career as an actor in 1962 bu ...

Nityananda Samntaray P. MadhavanPrafulla SaikiaP. R. S. PillayRaja Mitra

Sreekumaran Thampi Sreekumaran Thampi (born 16 March 1940) is an Indian lyricist, music director, director, producer, and screenwriter in Malayalam cinema. He also writes poetry and is a recipient of the Vallathol Award. In 2017, he was awarded the J. C. Daniel ...

Urvashi Talwar

Vinod Nagpal Vinod ( hi, विनोद , mr, विनोद , gu, વિનોદ) is a male given name used in India and Nepal, meaning "delight", "enjoyment", or "pleasure". People * Vinod Agarwal, Indian-American businessman and scientist *Vinod Agg ...

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

Buddhadeb Dasgupta Buddhadeb Dasgupta (11 February 1944 – 10 June 2021) was an Indian filmmaker and poet best known for his Bengali-language films like ''Bagh Bahadur'', '' Tahader Katha'', ''Charachar'' and ''Uttara''. Five of his films have won the National ...

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

(Chairperson) Arun KaulJag MohanJehangir Chaudhary Vijaya Mulay

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 Kamleshwar was appointed to evaluate the writing on Indian cinema. Following were the jury members: * Jury Members ** Kamleshwar (Chairperson)Shanta Sarbjeet SinghVijay Sasnur

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 Popular Film Providing Wholesome Entertainment * Best Film on Environment Conservation/Preservation * Best Feature Film in Manipuri * Best Feature Film in Marathi * Best Feature Film in Punjabi * Best Feature Film in English * Best Non-Feature Film Direction * Best Exploration / Adventure Film

References

External links

National Film Awards Archives

Official Page for Directorate of Film Festivals, India
{{National Film Awards National Film Awards (India) ceremonies 1991 Indian film awards