The 72nd National Film Awards, presented by the National Film Award Cell, Ministry of Information and Broadcasting were announced on 18 July 2026 in a press conference to honour the best of Indian cinema in 2024. There were 400 entries in the feature film category, 161 in non-feature films, 38 books, and 24 critics’ submissions. The political action-thriller Article 370 was awarded Best Feature Film and the dystopian science fiction Kalki 2898 AD was awarded Best Popular Feature Film.
The winners along with the Dadasaheb Phalke Award recipient were felicitated by the President, Droupadi Murmu on 22 September 2026 at Kevadia, Gujarat.
Selection process The National Film Award Cell, Ministry of Information and Broadcasting invited online entries for the awards. Feature and Non-Feature Films certified by the Central Board of Film Certification between 1 January 2024, and 31 December 2024, were eligible for the film award categories. 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.
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.
A committee consisting three personalities from the Indian film industry was appointed to evaluate the award. Following were the jury members:
DSPA Committee Mithun ChakrabortyParesh RawalAshutosh Gowariker
AwardImageAwardee(s)Awarded AsCash prizeDadasaheb Phalke Award Anant Nag Actor Swarna Kamal, , medallion and a shawl
Feature films 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 Jayaraj, included the heads of each regional committee and five other jury members. At regional level, each committee consisted of one chief and three or 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
Jayaraj (Chairperson)V. N. AdityaArchana UdupaAseem Bajaj Kala MasterMeera ChopraNapoleon RZ ThangaOm RautPriya KrishnaswamyRakesh RanjanSreelekha Mukherji
Northern Region:
Akshay Parija (Head)Arfi LambaAjay KumarPanchakshari
Eastern Region:
B S Basavaraj (Head) Sanjeev RattanSurya Deo Thokchom Jimmy Tushar Kanti Bandyopadhyay
Western Region:
Supratim Bhol (Head)Kshitija KhandagalePritesh Sodha Shashi Khandare
Southern Region I:
Manju Borah (Head)Adeep TandonManoj PillaiS Muthu GaneshSanthosh Damodharan
Southern Region II:
Gopi Desai (Head)M S PrasadPrashanthi HarathiSandesh Shetty Ajri
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 prize Best Feature Film Article 370 Hindi ₹3,00,000 each Best Debut Film of a Director Swatantrya Veer Savarkar Hindi Randeep Hooda ₹3,00,000 Best Popular Film Providing Wholesome Entertainment Kalki 2898 AD Telugu ₹3,00,000 each Best Children's Film 35 Chinna Katha Kaadu Telugu ₹3,00,000 each Best Direction Amaran Tamil Rajkumar Periasamy ₹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 Captain Miller Tamil ₹2,00,000 each Best Actor in a Leading Role Bramayugam Malayalam Mammootty ₹2,00,000 shared Chandu Champion Hindi Kartik Aaryan Best Actress in a Leading Role Article 370 Hindi Yami Gautam ₹2,00,000 Best Actor in a Supporting Role Bhakshak Hindi Sanjay Mishra ₹2,00,000 Best Actress in a Supporting Role Maharaja Tamil Sachana Namidass₹2,00,000 shared Mithya Kannada Roopashree VarkadyBest Child Artist Mithya Kannada Athish S Shetty₹2,00,000 shared 35 Chinna Katha Kaadu Telugu Arundev Pothula Onko Ki Kothin Bengali Riddhiman Banerjee Tapomoy Deb Gitashree ChakrabortyBest Male Playback Singer Gharat Ganpati Marathi Abhay Jodhpurkar ₹2,00,000Best Female Playback Singer ARM Malayalam Vaikom Vijayalakshmi ₹2,00,000Best Cinematography Bramayugam Malayalam Shehnad Jalal ₹2,00,000Best Screenplay Pushpa 2: The Rule Telugu Sukumar ₹2,00,000 Best Screenplay Swargandharva Sudhir Phadke Marathi Yogesh Deshpande ₹2,00,000 Best Screenplay Lucky Baskhar Telugu Venky Atluri ₹2,00,000Best Sound Design Bhool Bhulaiyaa 3 Hindi Manas Choudhury ₹2,00,000Best Editing Amaran Tamil R. Kalaivannan ₹2,00,000Best Production Design Kalki 2898 AD Telugu Nitin Zihani Choudhary ₹2,00,000Best Costume Design Pushpa 2: The Rule Telugu Deepali Noor ₹2,00,000 shared Sheetal Sharma Best Make-up Committee Kurrollu Telugu P Ravi Kumar ₹2,00,000 Best Music Direction Article 370 Hindi Shashwat Sachdev ₹2,00,000Best Music Direction Amaran Tamil G. V. Prakash Kumar ₹2,00,000 Best Lyrics Maidaan Hindi Manoj Muntashir ₹2,00,000Best Choreography Stree 2 Hindi Vijay Ganguly ₹2,00,000 Best Stunt Choreography Maharaja Tamil Anal Arasu ₹2,00,000
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 JuiphoolJadumoni Dutta ₹2,00,000 eachBest Bengali Feature Film Chaalchitra Ekhon Anjan Dutt Production Anjan Dutt ₹2,00,000 eachBest Gujarati Feature Film Maaran CineMan Productions Limited Abhishek Jain ₹2,00,000 eachBest Hindi Feature Film Srikanth T-Series and Chalk N Cheese Films Production Tushar Hiranandani ₹2,00,000 eachBest Kannada Feature Film Mithya Paramvah Studios and KRG Studios Sumanth Bhat ₹2,00,000 each Best Konkani Feature Film Mog Asum Flowing Mandovi Films, R S Creations and Kathputlee Arts and Films Radheshyam Pipalwa and Agnelo Angelo Braganza ₹2,00,000 eachBest Malayalam Feature Film Feminichi Fathima 1001 Stories and AFD Cinemas Fasil Muhammed ₹2,00,000 each Best Manipuri Feature Film Sunita Skyline Pictures, Khuman Leipak Pictures, H. M. Production and Cultural Society Khuman Maheikol Production Yumnam Ajit Singh ₹2,00,000 eachBest Marathi Feature Film Mu. Po. Bombilwaadi Vivek Films and Mayasabha Karamanuk Mandali Paresh Mokashi ₹2,00,000 eachBest Odia Feature Film Lahari Jhilik Motion Pictures Amartya Bhattacharyya₹2,00,000 eachBest Tamil Feature Film Raayan Sun Pictures Dhanush ₹2,00,000 eachBest Telugu Feature Film Committee Kurrollu Pink Elephant Pictures and Shree Radha Damodara Studios Yadhu Vamsi ₹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 Garhwali Feature Film DholiSC Pharmachem Pvt. Ltd. Dinesh P. Bhonsle ₹2,00,000 each Best Tulu Feature Film Imbu Pichchar Studio Shivadhwaj Shetty ₹2,00,000 each
Special Mention All the awardees are awarded with a certificate.
AwardFilmLanguageAwardee(s)Cash prize Special Mention Captain Miller Tamil Dhanush (Actor) Certificate only Meiyazhagan Suren G (Sound Mix Engineer)
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 Aseem Sinha (Chairperson)E. V. Ganeshbabu James Khangenbam Harri Nair Kamlesh UdasiKedaar Gaekwad Thripthi Sundar Abhikar
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 Bhangaar Marathi and English ₹3,00,000 eachBest Direction Statue of Unity – Ekta ka Prateek Hindi Aanand L. Rai ₹3,00,000Best Debut Film of a Director Angen Santhali Ravi Raj Murmu ₹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 Kakori Hindi ₹2,00,000 eachBest Arts / Cultural Film Main Nida Hindi ₹2,00,000 eachBest Documentary Ram-NamiHindi ₹2,00,000 eachBest Non-Feature Film Promoting Social And Environmental Values Piplantri: A Tale of Eco Feminism Hindi, Rajasthani and English ₹2,00,000 eachBest Animation Film Touched as Water Silent ₹2,00,000 eachBest Short Film Hamsafar Marathi ₹2,00,000 each Best Cinematography Life in Loom English, Tamil, Hindi, Assamese and BengaliEdmond Ranson ₹2,00,000Best Sound Design Blue Tamil T S Hari Hara Sudhan ₹2,00,000Best Editing NDA Hindi Manvir Jasrotia ₹2,00,000Best Music Direction Parat 41°chya Magavar Marathi Shivpal Singh Kang ₹2,00,000 Best Narration / Voice Over Little Planet: A Tale of Frogs English Soundarya Jayachandran ₹2,00,000 Best Script Obur Hindi and Kashmiri Faraz Ali ₹2,00,000
Special Mention All the awardees are awarded with a certificate.
AwardFilmLanguageAwardee(s)Cash prize Special Mention Bhadra-Kali Natakam Malayalam Ananda Jyothi (Director)Certificate only Chola Dora aur Sui Hindi Jaymin Modi and Lokesh Ghai (Directors)
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 A. Chandrasekhar (Chairperson)Rwita Dutta Sujata Shiven
Golden Lotus Award Official Name: Swarna Kamal
All the awardees are awarded with the Golden Lotus Award (Swarna Kamal) accompanied with a cash prize.
AwardBookLanguageAwardee(s)Cash prizeBest Book on Cinema Naaniruvude Nimagaagi Naadiruvude Nanagaagi: Kannada Cinemada Thathva Matthu Rajakeeya Kannada ₹1,00,000 eachBest Film Critic Hindi Sanjeev Shrivastava ₹1,00,000
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