The 71st National Film Awards, presented by the National Film Development Corporation of India, were announced on 1 August 2025 by the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting in a press conference to honour the best of Indian cinema in 2023. There were 332 entries in the feature film category, 115 in non-feature films, 27 books, and 16 critics’ submissions. The winners along with the Dadasaheb Phalke Award recipient were felicitated by the President, Droupadi Murmu on 23 September 2025 at the Vigyan Bhawan, New Delhi.
Selection process The National Film Development Corporation of India invited online entries with the acceptable last date for entries until 18 September 2024. Feature and Non-Feature Films certified by Central Board of Film Certification between 1 January 2023, and 31 December 2023, were eligible for the film award categories. Books, critical studies, reviews or articles on cinema published in Indian newspapers, magazines, and journals between 1 January 2023, and 31 December 2023, were eligible for the best writing on cinema section. Entries of dubbed, revised or copied versions of a film or translation, abridgements, edited or annotated works and reprints were ineligible for the awards.
For the feature and non-feature Films sections, films in any Indian language, shot on 16 mm, 35 mm, a wider film gauge or a digital format, and released in cinemas, on video or digital formats for home viewing were eligible. Films were required to be certified as a feature film, documentary, short film, or animation film, by the Central Board of Film Certification.
Dadasaheb Phalke Award Introduced in 1969, the Dadasaheb Phalke Award is India's highest award in the field of cinema 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. The recipient is awarded with 'Golden Lotus Award' (Swarna Kamal), cash prize of , medallion and a shawl. The 2023 recipient is Mohanlal.
A committee consisting three personalities from the Indian film industry was appointed to evaluate the award. Following were the jury members:
Jury Members Mithun Chakraborty Shankar Mahadevan Ashutosh Gowariker
AwardImageAwardee(s)Awarded AsCash prizeDadasaheb Phalke Award Mohanlal ActorSwarna Kamal, , medallion and a shawl
Feature Film Jury For the Feature Film section, six committees were formed based on the different geographic regions in India. The two-tier evaluation process included a central committee and five regional committees. The central committee, headed by the director Ashutosh Gowariker, included the heads of each regional committee and five other jury members. At regional level, each committee consisted of one chief and four members. The chief and one non-chief member of each regional committee were selected from outside that geographic region. The table below names the jury members for the central and regional committees:
Central Jury
Ashutosh Gowariker (Chairperson)M. N. SwamyGeeta M. GurappaDr. V. N. Aditya Aneesh BasuParesh VoraSushil RajpalVivek PratapPradeep NairManiram SinghPrakruti Mishra
Northern Region:
Jose Antony Palackapillil (Head) Chethan MundadiKamlesh Kumar Mishra Niraj Kumar Mishra Pramod Kumar
Eastern Region:
Shivadhwaj Shetty (Head) Bobby Sarma BaruahOinam Doren Sukumar Nandlal Jatani Tushar Kanti Bandyopadhyay
Western Region:
Tushar Hiranandani (Head) Chirantana Bhatt Mandar Talauliker Praveen Morchhale Shivaji Lotan Patil
Southern Region I:
Abhijeet Shirish Deshpande (Head) Manoj C. D. Aparnaa Singh Selvanarayanan I S Rajasekharan
Southern Region II:
Malay Ray (Head)Raghunandan B R Runa BhutdaYakub Khader Gulvady Satish Varma Mandapati
Golden Lotus Award All the awardees are awarded with 'Golden Lotus Award (Swarna Kamal)', a certificate and cash prize.
AwardFilmLanguageAwardee(s)Cash prize Best Feature Film 12th Fail Hindi ₹3,00,000 each Best Debut Film of a Director Aatmapamphlet Marathi Ashish Avinash Bende ₹3,00,000 Best Popular Film Providing Wholesome Entertainment Rocky Aur Rani Kii Prem Kahaani Hindi ₹3,00,000 each Best Children's Film Naal 2 Marathi ₹3,00,000 eachBest Film in AVGC Hanu-Man Telugu ₹3,00,000 each Best Direction The Kerala Story Hindi Sudipto Sen ₹3,00,000
Silver Lotus Award Official Name: Rajat Kamal
All the awardees are awarded with 'Silver Lotus Award (Rajat Kamal)', a certificate and cash prize.
AwardFilmLanguageAwardee(s)Cash prize Best Feature Film Promoting National, Social and Environmental Values Sam Bahadur Hindi ₹2,00,000 each Best Actor in a Leading Role Jawan Hindi Shah Rukh Khan ₹2,00,000 shared 12th Fail Hindi Vikrant Massey Best Actress in a Leading Role Mrs. Chatterjee vs Norway Hindi Rani Mukerji ₹2,00,000 Best Actor in a Supporting RolePookkaalam Malayalam Vijayaraghavan₹2,00,000 shared Parking Tamil M. S. Bhaskar Best Actress in a Supporting Role Ullozhukku Malayalam Urvashi₹2,00,000 shared Vash Gujarati Janki BodiwalaBest Child Artist Gandhi Tatha Chettu Telugu Sukriti Veni Bandreddi₹2,00,000 shared Gypsy Marathi Kabir Khandare Naal 2 Marathi Treesha ThosarShrinivas PokaleBhargav JagtapBest Male Playback Singer Baby Telugu P V N S Rohit ₹2,00,000Best Female Playback Singer Jawan Hindi Shilpa Rao ₹2,00,000Best Cinematography The Kerala Story Hindi Prasantanu Mohapatra ₹2,00,000Best Screenplay Baby Telugu Sai Rajesh₹2,00,000 shared Parking Tamil Ramkumar BalakrishnanBest Screenplay Sirf Ek Bandaa Kaafi Hai Hindi Deepak Kingrani ₹2,00,000Best Sound DesignAnimalHindi Sachin Sudhakaran₹2,00,000 shared Hariharan MuralidharanBest Editing Pookkaalam Malayalam Midhun Murali ₹2,00,000Best Production Design 2018 Malayalam Mohandas ₹2,00,000Best Costume DesignSam BahadurHindi Sachin Lovalekar₹2,00,000 shared Divvya Gambhir Nidhhi Gambhir Best Make-up Sam Bahadur Hindi Shrikant Desai ₹2,00,000 Best Music Direction Vaathi Tamil G. V. Prakash Kumar ₹2,00,000Best Music Direction Animal Hindi Harshavardhan Rameshwar ₹2,00,000 Best Lyrics Balagam Telugu Kasarla Shyam ₹2,00,000Best Choreography Rocky Aur Rani Kii Prem Kahaani Hindi Vaibhavi Merchant ₹2,00,000Best VFX Supervisor Hanu-Man Telugu Jetty Venkat Kumar ₹2,00,000 Best Stunt Choreography Hanu-Man Telugu Nandu ₹2,00,000 shared Pruthvi Uppari
Regional awards All the awardees are awarded with Silver Lotus Award (Rajat Kamal), a certificate and cash prize.
+Best Feature Film in Each of the Language Specified in the Schedule VIII of the ConstitutionAwardFilmAwardee(s)Cash prize Producer DirectorBest Assamese Feature Film Rongatapu 1982 BRC Cine Production Adityam Saikia ₹2,00,000 eachBest Bengali Feature Film Deep Fridge Colors of Dream Entertainment Arjunn Dutta ₹2,00,000 each Best Gujarati Feature Film Vash Big Box Series Production and KS Entertainment Krishnadev Yagnik ₹2,00,000 eachBest Hindi Feature Film KathalNetflix, Balaji Motion Pictures and Sikhya Entertainment Yashowardhan Mishra ₹2,00,000 eachBest Kannada Feature Film Kandeelu – The Ray of Hope Swastik Entertainment Yeshoda Prakash Kottukathira ₹2,00,000 eachBest Malayalam Feature Film UllozhukkuUnnilazer Ventures Pvt Ltd and MacGuffin Pictures Christo Tomy ₹2,00,000 eachBest Marathi Feature Film Shyamchi Aai Amruta Films Sujay Dahake ₹2,00,000 eachBest Odia Feature Film Pushkara Tarang Cine Productions Subhransu Das ₹2,00,000 each Best Punjabi Feature Film Godday Godday Chaa VH Entertainment and Zee Studios Vijay Kumar Arora ₹2,00,000 eachBest Tamil Feature Film ParkingPassion Studios and Soldiers Factory Ramkumar Balakrishnan ₹2,00,000 eachBest Telugu Feature Film Bhagavanth Kesari Shine Screens Anil Ravipudi ₹2,00,000 each
+Best Feature Film in Each of the Language Other Than Those Specified In the Schedule VIII of the ConstitutionAwardFilmAwardee(s)Cash prize Producer Director Best Garo Feature Film RimdogittangaAnna Films, Uncombed Buddha and Joicy Studio Dominic Sangma ₹2,00,000 each Best Tai Phake Feature Film Pai Tang Naba Kumar Bhuyan Prabal Khaund ₹2,00,000 each
Special Mention All the awardees are awarded with a certificate.
AwardFilmLanguageAwardee(s)Cash prize Special Mention Animal Hindi M. R. Rajakrishnan (Sound Designer) Certificate only
Non-Feature Film Non-feature length films made in any Indian language and certified by the Central Board of Film Certification as a documentary, short film, animation film etc are eligible for non-feature film section.
Jury P. Sheshadri (Chairperson)Pankaja Thakur K. S. Selvaraj Srishti Lakhera Jaicheng Jai DohutiaAtul Gangwar Olivia Das
Golden Lotus Award Official Name: Swarna Kamal
All the awardees are awarded with 'Golden Lotus Award (Swarna Kamal)', a certificate and cash prize.
AwardFilmLanguageAwardee(s)Cash prizeBest Non-Feature Film Flowering Man Hindi ₹3,00,000 eachBest Direction The First Film Hindi Piyush Thakur ₹3,00,000Best Debut Film of a Director Mau: The Spirit Dreams of Cheraw Mizo Shilpika Bordoloi ₹3,00,000
Silver Lotus Award Official Name: Rajat Kamal
All the awardees are awarded with Silver Lotus Award (Rajat Kamal) and cash prize.
AwardFilmLanguageAwardee(s)Cash prize Best Biographical / Historical Reconstruction / Compilation Film Mo Bou, Mo Gaan Odia ₹2,00,000 shared Lentina Ao – A Light on the Eastern Horizon English Best Arts / Cultural Film Timeless Tamil Nadu English ₹2,00,000 sharedBest Documentary God Vulture and HumanEnglish, Hindi and Telugu ₹2,00,000 eachBest Non Feature Film Promoting Social And Environmental Values The Silent Epidemic English ₹2,00,000 eachBest Short Film Giddh (The Scavenger) Hindi ₹2,00,000 each Best Cinematography Little Wings TamilSaravanamaruthu Soundarapandi and Meenakshi Soman ₹2,00,000 sharedBest Sound Design Dhundhgiri Ke Phool Hindi Shubharun Sengupta ₹2,00,000Best Editing Moving Focus English Niladri Roy ₹2,00,000Best Music Direction The First Film Hindi Pranil Desai ₹2,00,000 Best Narration / Voice Over The Sacred – Jack Exploring the Tree of Wishes English Harikrishnan S ₹2,00,000 Best Script Sunflowers Were the First Ones to Know... Kannada Chidananda S Naik ₹2,00,000
Special Mention All the awardees are awarded with a certificate.
AwardFilmLanguageAwardee(s)Cash prize Special Mention Nekal – Chronicle of The Paddy Man Malayalam Producer and director: M K RamdasCertificate only The Sea & Seven Villages Odia
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.
Jury Gopalakrishna Pai (Chairperson)Ashok Palit Vinod Anupam
Golden Lotus Award Official Name: Swarna Kamal
All the awardees are awarded with the Golden Lotus Award (Swarna Kamal) accompanied with a cash prize.
AwardAwardee(s)LanguageCash prizeBest Film Critic Utpal Datta Assamese ₹1,00,000
Controversies
Backlash over The Kerala Story awards