Like the recent Oscar nomination that had 11 Hindi films, a clear majority, among the 24 entries, Hindi cinema also dominated the 71st National Film Awards, held on October 24 at the Siri Fort Auditorium, New Delhi, for the year 2023. Nine Hindi films, of which six were theatrical releases and three OTT releases, won 17 awards between them, shared by a corporate entity (Netflix) and a total of 23 individuals across multiple film, music and technical categories.
Here’s presenting the winners in the national language, film-wise.
Animal (2 awards and a certificate)
The T-Series blockbuster that was panned for its overall brutality, violence and misogyny, but still won awards. Harshavardhan Rameshwar, though basically from Telugu cinema, won for Best Background Music in his Hindi debut. (Harshavardhan, incidentally, also composed the film’s hit song, Papa meri jaan, that is now the signature tune for T-Series Music).
The film also won the Best Sound Design award for Sachin Sudhakaran and Hariharan Muralidharan and a Special Mention certificate for Sound Designer M. R. Rajakrishnan.
While all these names were from the South, the film was also directed by Sandeep Vanga Reddy from Telugu cinema.
Commercial status: Blockbuster
Jawan (2 awards)
Shah Rukh Khan’s home production, Jawan, which proved the highest grosser of 2023, won him his first National award for Best Actor, though it was shared with another actor.
Shilpa Rao won her Best Female Playback Singer award for the song, Chaleya. Interestingly, this film was directed by Atlee, who is also from the South: he is mainly a Tamil film director.
Commercial status: Blockbuster
Kathal—A Jackfruit Mystery
The OTT release on Netflix won the platform (which also co-produced the film) as well as Balaji Motion Pictures and Sikhya Entertainment (Ektaa R. Kapoor and Guneet Monga) and directed by Yashovardhan Mishra. The film won the Best Hindi Film award in a well-deserved victory. It was a political satire.
Mrs. Chatterjee Vs. Norway
This searing tale of how a mother took on an entire nation to fight for her child was inspired by a real story. It won Rani Mukerji the Best Actress in a Leading Role award.
Commercial status: Success
Rocky Aur Rani Kii Prem Kahanii (2 awards)
This film won director and co-producer Karan Johar (and his co-producers Hiroo Johar and Apoorva Mehta) the award for making the Best Popular Film Providing Wholesome Entertainment. This was Karan’s fourth National award after his debut directorial, Kuch Kuch Hota Hai (1998) had won the same award, while his co-production, Shershaah (2021), won a Special Jury Award and another co-production, Brahmastra Part 1: Shiva (2022) won as Best Film in AVGC (Animation, Visual Effects, Gaming, & Comic) category.
Rocky… also picked up a second award—for Best Choreography to Vaibhavi Merchant for its song, Dhindora baaje re.
Commercial status: Hit
Sam Bahadur (2 awards)
The Field-Marshal Sam Manekshaw biopic won technical awards: Best Costume Design for Sachin Lovalekar, Divvya Gambhir and Nidhhi Gambhir and for Best Make-up to Shrikant Desai. The film was released on ZEE5, now called Z5.
Sirf Ek Bandaa Kaafi Hai
Another Z5 release was this Manoj Bajpayee starrer that won Deepak Kingrani the Best Screenplay award.
The Kerala Story (2 awards)
This expose on forced conversions in Kerala, based on researched facts, was awarded the very important Best Direction trophy for Sudipto Sen, while his cinematographer, Prasantanu Mohapatra, won for Best Cinematography.
Commercial status: Blockbuster
12th Fail (2 awards)
And last but not the least, this film won Vikrant Massey the Best Actor award in a share with Shah Rukh Khan for Jawan. But more importantly, it was adjudged the Best Feature Film of the year, and Vidhu Vinod Chopra who also co-wrote the film, won the award as both producer and director.
Commercial status: Hit
With no flop film in this list, the National Film Awards have indeed come a long way from the era when commercially successful films were mostly considered a pariah and arthouse and middle-of-the-road cinema, often obscure, were honored. And now mainstream Hindi films are setting a great trail too.
Interestingly, this year’s Dadasaheb Phalke laureate, Mohanlal, though essentially from Malayalam cinema, had starred in the Hindi film, Company, in 2002. He also has made cameo appearances in Halla Bol (2007) and Tezz (2012).
