Assamese director Rima Das’s coming-of-age drama Village Rockstars on Friday won the National Award for best feature film. The movie also won awards for best editing (Das), audiography (Mallika Das) and child artist (Bhanita Das).
Sridevi was posthumously awarded best actress for Ravi Udyawar’s rape-revenge drama Mom. Bengali actor Riddhi Sen won best actor for his performance in Kaushik Ganguly’s queer drama Nagarkirtan. The Dadasaheb Phalke award was conferred on veteran actor Vinod Khanna for his contribution to Indian cinema.
The 65th National Film Awards, organised by the government’s Directorate of Film and Festivals, were announced in Delhi by jury head Shekhar Kapur. The 10-member panel included writers Imtiaz Hussain and Tripurari Sharma, directors Aniruddha Roy Chowdhury and Rajesh Mapuskar, and actress Gauthami. The ceremony will be held on May 3.
The best director award went to Jayaraj for the Malayalam drama Bhayanakam, an adaptation of two chapters from Thakazhi Shivashankara Pillai’s epic Kayar. Jayaraj also won the award for Best Adapted Screenplay. Meanwhile Fahad Faasil won for his supporting role in Thondimuthalum Driksakshiyum, which was also selected Best Malayalam Film and Best Original Screenplay. Divya Dutta was selected best supporting actress for Irada, which also won Best Film on Environmental Conservation.
Dhappa won the award for Best film on National Integration, while Alurakkam, the story of an old man abandoned by his son, was awarded Best Film on Social Issues.
The awards also recognised Jeseri, a little-known language spoken in Lakshadweep. Sinjar, directed by Pampally, won the award for Best Jeseri Film.
Walking with the Wind was selected best Ladakhi film. The movie also won awards for sound design and re-recording. Amit Masurkar’s Newton (Hindi), Prasad Oak’s Kachha Limbu (Marathi), Chezhiyan’s To Let (Tamil), Sankalp Reddy’s Ghazi (Telugu), Atanu Ghosh’s Mayurakshi (Bengali), Manish Saini’s Dhh (Gujarati), Abhaya Simha’s Paddayi (Tulu), Nanjunde Gowda’s Hebbet Ramakka (Kannada) and Utpal Borpujari’s Ishu (Assamese) won the awards for best film in the respective languages.
AR Rahman won a National Award for the fifth year, winning Best Music Director for Mani Ratnam’s Kaatru Veliyidai and a prize for background score for Mom.The article was first published in scroll.in and is being reprinted under special arrangements
Thursday, June 04, 2026
