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72nd National Film Awards 2024: Article 370 Takes Best Feature Film

The 72nd National Film Awards honoured the films of 2024: Article 370 won Best Feature Film, Mammootty and Kartik Aaryan shared Best Actor, Yami Gautam won Best Actress, and Anant Nag received the Dadasaheb Phalke Award at the first ceremony held outside New Delhi.

By Pinky12 November 2026Updated 12 November 20261 min readbasic
72nd National Film Awards 2024: Article 370 Takes Best Feature Film | UPSC

72nd National Film Awards 2024: Article 370 Takes Best Feature Film

The winners of the 72nd National Film Awards, honouring the films of 2024, were announced on 18 July 2026, and the ceremony was held on 22 September 2026 at Ekta Nagar in Gujarat, presented by President Droupadi Murmu. It was the first time the ceremony was held outside New Delhi. The National Film Awards were instituted in 1954, and for this edition 400 feature films entered in 34 languages and 161 non-feature films in 24 languages.

72nd National Film Awards: the major winnersBest Feature FilmArticle 370 (Hindi)Best ActorMammootty, Bramayugam, and Kartik Aaryan, Chandu ChampionBest ActressYami Gautam, Article 370Best DirectionRajkumar Periasamy, AmaranBest Debut DirectorRandeep Hooda, Swatantrya Veer SavarkarBest Popular FilmKalki 2898 AD (Telugu)Dadasaheb Phalke AwardAnant NagInstituted 1954. Entries: 400 feature films in 34 languages; 161 non-feature films in 24 languages.
The 72nd National Film Awards, for the films of 2024, were presented at Ekta Nagar, Gujarat, on 22 September 2026, the first ceremony held outside New Delhi.

The awards also recognised films that carry a social message. Captain Miller (Tamil), directed by Arun Matheswaran, won Best Feature Film Promoting National, Social and Environmental Values; 35, Chinna Katha Kaadu (Telugu), directed by Nanda Kishore Emani, won Best Children's Film; and Ram-Nami (Hindi), directed by Bharatbala, won Best Documentary. The spread of winners across Hindi, Malayalam, Tamil and Telugu cinema is the point prelims usually tests: the National Film Awards are a pan-Indian honour, not a Hindi-film honour.

Why the 72nd Edition Stands Out

Two firsts mark this edition. The ceremony moved out of New Delhi for the first time, to the Statue of Unity complex at Ekta Nagar, which fits the government's practice of taking national ceremonies to different states. And the Best Actor award was shared between a Malayalam film and a Hindi film, which underlines how the jury weighs performance across languages rather than within one industry.

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Mains Practice question

The National Film Awards honour films in many languages, yet Hindi cinema dominates the public conversation about Indian film. Discuss whether a national award can correct that imbalance, and what the 72nd edition's winners suggest about the direction of Indian cinema.

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