66th National Film Awards

The 66th National Film Awards ceremony was the award ceremony which took place in 2019 to honour the best films of 2018, in the Indian cinema. The declaration of awards was delayed due to 2019 Indian general election.[1][2]

66th National Film Awards
Awarded forBest of Indian cinema in 2018
Awarded byDirectorate of Film Festivals
Presented byM. Venkaiah Naidu
(Vice President of India)
Announced on9 August 2019 (2019-08-09)
Presented on23 December 2019 (2019-12-23)
Hosted byDivya Dutta
Sonali Kulkarni
Official websitedff.gov.in
Highlights
Best Feature FilmHellaro
Best Non-Feature Film • Son Rise
 • The Secret Life Of Frogs
Best BookMouna Prarthana Pole
Best Film Critic • Blais Johnny
 • Anant Vijay
Dadasaheb Phalke AwardAmitabh Bachchan
Most awardsNathicharami (5)

Selection process

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The Directorate of Film Festivals invited online entries and the acceptable last date for entries was until 22 January 2019. Feature and Non-Feature Films certified by Central Board of Film Certification between 1 January 2018, and 31 December 2018, 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 2018, and 31 December 2018, 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.[3]

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, a featurette or a Documentary/Newsreel/Non-Fiction by the Central Board of Film Certification.[3]

Best Film Friendly State

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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 a State Government Policy.

  • Jury Members
 • Ramesh Sippy (Chairperson)
 • Vivek Agnihotri
 • Uday Singh
Award Name of State Citation
Best Film Friendly State State of Uttarakhand For furthering the growth of the film industry in the State including creating an environment for ease of filming in the State, encouraging skill/talent development, incentivizing the re-opening of closed cinema halls, formation of film development fund, continuing with the earlier incentive plan for filming, formation of Utttarakhand Film Development Council among other pro active initiatives.

Dadasaheb Phalke Award

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Introduced in 1969, the Dadasaheb Phalke Award is the highest award 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.[4] The recipient is awarded with 'Golden Lotus Award (Swarna Kamal)', cash prize, and a shawl.

Award Image Awardee(s) Awarded As Cash Prize
Dadasaheb Phalke Award   Amitabh Bachchan Actor 1 million (US$12,000)

Feature films

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Jury

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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 Priyadarshan, 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

 • Rahul Rawail (Chairperson)
 • Rajdutt  • Sabyasachi Mohapatra
 • K. Vasu  • Archana R. Singh
 • Vijayakrishnan  • Major Ravi
 • Imo Singh  • Vinod Ganatra
 • B. S. Lingadevaru  • Ashok Rane

Northern Region: (Bhojpuri, Dogri, English, Hindi, Punjabi, Rajasthani, Urdu)

 • Major Ravi (Head)
 • Kuldip Sinha  • Rahul Solapurkar
 • Ashok Sharan  • Devendra Khandelwal

Eastern Region: (Assamese, Bengali, Odia and North-Eastern dialects)

 • Vinod Ganatra (Head)
 • Monalisa Mukherjee  • Namasrri
 • Akashaditya Lama  • Suraj Kumar Duwarah

Western Region: (Gujarati, Konkani, Marathi)

 • B. S. Lingadevaru (Head)
 • Gyan Sahay  • Mahendra Teredesai
 • Parag Chhapekar  • Neeraj Pathak

Southern Region I: (Malayalam, Tamil)

 • Ashok Rane (Head)
 • B. Divaker  • A. Karthik Raja
 • Jayaram Kailas  • Shailesh Gupta

Southern Region II: (Kannada, Telugu)

 • Imo Singh (Head)
 • Malti Sahay  • M. K. Bhaskara Rao
 • S. M. Patil  • B. Ramani

All India Award

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Golden Lotus Awards

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Official Name: Swarna Kamal

All the awardees are awarded with 'Golden Lotus Award (Swarna Kamal)', a certificate and cash prize.

Award Film Language Awardee(s) Cash Prize
Best Feature Film Hellaro Gujarati Producer: Saarthi Productions LLP
Director: Abhishek Shah
250,000/- each
Best Debut Film of a Director Naal Marathi Producer: Mrudhgandh Films LLP
Director: Sudhakar Reddy Yakkanti
125,000/- each
Best Popular Film Providing Wholesome Entertainment Badhaai Ho Hindi Producer: Junglee Pictures Limited
Director: Amit Sharma
200,000/- each
Best Children's Film Sarkari Hi. Pra. Shaale, Kasaragodu, Koduge: Ramanna Rai Kannada Producer & Director: Rishab Shetty 150,000/- each
Best Direction Uri: The Surgical Strike Hindi Aditya Dhar 250,000/-

Silver Lotus Award

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Official Name: Rajat Kamal

All the awardees are awarded with 'Silver Lotus Award (Rajat Kamal)', a certificate and cash prize.

Award Film Language Awardee(s) Cash Prize
Best Feature Film on National Integration Ondalla Eradalla Kannada Producer: Umapathy Srinivas
Director: D Satya Prakash
150,000/- each
Best Film on Other Social Issues Pad Man Hindi Producer: Hope Productions Pvt. Ltd
Director: R. Balki
150,000/- each
Best Film on Environment/Conservation/Preservation Paani Marathi Producer:Purple Pebble Pictures
Director:Adinath Kothare
150,000/- each
Best Actor Andhadhun Hindi Ayushman Khurrana

50,000/- each

Uri: The Surgical Strike Vicky Kaushal
Best Actress Mahanati Telugu Keerthy Suresh 50,000/-
Best Supporting Actor Chumbak Marathi Swanand Kirkire 50,000/-
Best Supporting Actress Badhaai Ho Hindi Surekha Sikri 50,000/-
Best Child Artist Ondalla Eradalla Kannada P V Rohith 50,000/-
Naal Marathi Shrinivas Pokale
Harjeeta Punjabi Sameep Ranaut
Hamid Urdu Talha Arshad Reshi
Best Male Playback Singer Padmaavat
(For the song "Binte Dil")
Hindi Arijit Singh 50,000/-
Best Female Playback Singer Nathicharami
(For the song "Maayavi Manave")
Kannada Bindhu Malini 50,000/-
Best Cinematography Olu Malayalam M. J. Radhakrishnan 50,000/-
Best Screenplay
 • Screenplay Writer (Original)
Chi La Sow Telugu Rahul Ravindran 50,000/-
Best Screenplay
 • Screenplay Writer (Adapted)
Andhadhun Hindi Sriram Raghavan, Arijit Biswas, Yogesh Chandekar, Hemanth Rao, and Pooja Ladha Surti 50,000/-
Best Screenplay
 • Dialogues
Tarikh Bengali Churni Ganguly 50,000/-
Best Audiography
 • Location Sound Recordist
Tendlya Marathi Gaurav Verma 50,000/-
Best Audiography
 • Sound Designer
Uri: The Surgical Strike Hindi Bishwadeep Chatterjee 50,000/-
Best Audiography
 • Re-recordist of the Final Mixed Track
Rangasthalam Telugu Raja Krishnan M.R 50,000/-
Best Editing Nathicharami Kannada Nagendra Ujjani 50,000/-
Best Production Design Kammara Sambhavam Malayalam Vinesh Banglan 50,000/-
Best Costume Design Mahanati Telugu Indrakshi Pattanaik, Gaurang Shah & Archana Rao 50,000/-
Best Make-up Artist Awe Telugu Ranjith 50,000/-
Best Music Direction
 • Songs
Padmaavat Hindi Sanjay Leela Bhansali 50,000/-
Best Music Direction
 • Background Score
Uri: The Surgical Strike Hindi Shashwat Sachdev 50,000/-
Best Lyrics Nathicharami
(For the song "Maayavi Manave")
Kannada Manjunatha S. Reddy
(ManSoRe)
50,000/-
Best Special Effects K.G.F: Chapter 1 Kannada Unifi Media 50,000/-
Awe Telugu Srushti Creative Studio
Best Choreography Padmaavat
(For the song "Ghoomar")
Hindi Jyoti D Tommar & Kruti Mahesh 50,000/-
Best Stunt Choreographer K.G.F: Chapter 1 Kannada Vikram More & Anbu Ariv 50,000/-
Special Jury Award Kedara Bengali Indraadip Dasgupta 2,00,000/-
Hellaro Gujarati Shraddha Dangar, Shachi Joshi, Denisha Ghumra, Niilam Paanchal, Tarjani Bhadla, Brinda Nayak, Tejal Panchasara, Kaushambi Bhatt, Ekta Bachwani, Kamini Panchal, Jagruti Thakore, Riddhi Yadav, and Prapti Mehta
Special Mention Nathicharami Kannada Sruthi Hariharan (Actress) Certificate only
Kadhak Hindi Chandrachoor Rai (Actor)
Joseph Malayalam Joju George (Actor)
Sudani From Nigeria Malayalam Savithri Sreedharan (Actress)

Regional Awards

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National Film Awards are also given to the best films in the regional languages of India. Awards for the regional languages are categorised as per their mention in the Eighth schedule of the Constitution of India. Awardees included producers and directors of the film. No films in languages other than those specified in the Schedule VIII of the Constitution were eligible.

Award Film Awardee(s) Cash Prize
Producer Director
Best Feature Film in Assamese Bulbul Can Sing Flying River Films Rima Das 1,00,000/- each
Best Feature Film in Bengali Ek Je Chhilo Raja SVF Entertainment Pvt. Ltd. Srijit Mukherji 1,00,000/- each
Best Feature Film in Gujarati Reva Paresh Vora  • Rahul Bhole
 • Vinit Kanojia
1,00,000/- each
Best Feature Film in Hindi Andhadhun Viacom18 Motion Pictures Sriram Raghavan 1,00,000/- each
Best Feature Film in Kannada Nathicharami M. Ramesh ManSoRe
(Manjunath S. Reddy)
1,00,000/- each
Best Feature Film in Konkani Amori Opus Ga La Dinesh P. Bhonsle 1,00,000/- each
Best Feature Film in Malayalam Sudani From Nigeria  • Sameer Thahir
 • Shyju Khalid
Zakariya Mohammed 1,00,000/- each
Best Feature Film in Marathi Bhonga Nalinee Productions Shivaji Lotan Patil 1,00,000/- each
Best Feature Film in Punjabi Harjeeta Villagers Film Studio Vijay Kumar Arora 1,00,000/- each
Best Feature Film in Tamil Baaram  • Priya Krishnaswamy
 • Ardra Swaroop
Priya Krishnaswamy 1,00,000/- each
Best Feature Film in Telugu Mahanati Priyanka Dutt Nag Ashwin 1,00,000/- each
Best Feature Film in Urdu Hamid Saregama India Limited Aijaz Khan 1,00,000/- each
Best Feature Film in Each of the Language Other Than Those Specified In the Schedule VIII of the Constitution
Award Film Awardee(s) Cash Prize
Producer Director
Best Feature Film in Pangchenpa In The Land Of Poison Women Aaas Productions Manju Borah 1,00,000/- each
Best Feature Film in Rajasthani Turtle Shivazza Films & Entertainment Dinesh S Yadav 1,00,000/- each
Best Feature Film in Garo Ma.ama Anna Films Dominic Sangma 1,00,000/- each
Best Feature Film in Sherdukpen Mishing BB Entertainment Trade Private Limited Bobby Sarma Baruah 1,00,000/- each

Non-Feature Films

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Short Films made in any Indian language and certified by the Central Board of Film Certification as a documentary/newsreel/fiction are eligible for non-feature film section.

Jury

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A committee of seven, headed by cinematographer A. S. Kanal, was appointed to evaluate the Non-Feature Films entries. The jury members were:

 • A. S. Kanal (Chairperson)
 • Dhvani Desai  • Rajendra Mohapatra
 • Chetan Mathur  • B. R. Srivatsa
 • Vandana Kohli  • Atul Gangawar

Golden Lotus Award

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Official Name: Swarna Kamal

All the awardees are awarded with 'Golden Lotus Award (Swarna Kamal)', a certificate and cash prize.

Award Film Language Awardee(s) Cash Prize
Best Non-Feature Film Son Rise & The Secret Life of Frogs Vibha Bakshi

Ajay Bedi & Vijay Bedi

150,000/- each
Best Director in Non-Feature Film Feluda: 50 Years of Ray's Detective Bengali Sagnik Chatterjee 150,000/-

Silver Lotus Award

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Official Name: Rajat Kamal

All the Awardees are awarded with 'Silver Lotus Award (Rajat Kamal)' and cash prize.

Award Film Language Awardee(s) Cash Prize
Best First Non-Feature Film Son Rise Vibha Bakshi 75,000/- each
Best Biographical Film / Best Historical Reconstruction / Compilation Film 50,000/- each
Best Arts / Cultural Film Bunkar - The Last of the Varanasi Weavers English with Hindi Satyaprakash Upadhyay 50,000/- each
Best Environment Film including Best Agricultural Film The World's Most Famous Tiger Subbiah

Nallamuthu

50,000/- each
Best Promotional Film Rediscovering Jajam Avinash Maurya, Kriti Gupta (Directors)

Rachel Bracken Singh (Producer)

50,000/- each
Best Film on Social Issues Taala Te Kunjee Shilpi Gulati (Director)

Simardeep Singh (Producer)

50,000/- each
Best Educational / Motivational / Instructional Film Sarala Virala Kannada Ere Gowda 50,000/- each
Best Anthropological/Ethnographic Film 50,000/- each
Best Exploration / Adventure Film (including sports) Swimming Through The Darkness Supriyo Sen 50,000/- each
Best Investigative Film Amoli Jasmine Kaur Roy

Avinash Roy

Sameer Pitalwalla

50,000/- each
Best Animation Film 50,000/- each
Best Short Fiction Film Kharvas Aditya Suhas Jambhale 50,000/- each
Best Film on Family Welfare Chalo Jeetey Hai 50,000/- each
Best Cinematography The Secret Life of Frogs Ajay Bedi, Vijay Bedi 50,000/- each
Best Audiography Children Of the Soil Bishwadeep Chatterjee 50,000/-
Best Audiography
 • Location Sound Recordist
The Secret Life of Frogs Ajay Bedi 50,000/-
Best Editing Son Rise Hemanti Sarkar 50,000/-
Best Music Direction Jyoti Kedar Divekar 50,000/-
Best Narration / Voice Over Madhubani: The Station Of Colour "Urvija Upadhyay" "Deepak Agnihotri" 50,000/-
Special Mention Mahaan Hutatma
Glow Worm in a Jungle
Laddoo
Kannada
English
Hindi
Sagar Puranik
Ramana Dumpala
Sameer and Kishore Sadhwani
Certificate only

Best Writing on Cinema

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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

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A committee of three, headed by Utpal Borpujari was appointed to evaluate the nominations for the best writing on Indian cinema. The jury members were as follows:

 • Utpal Borpujari (Chairperson)
 • Mohan Raman  • Yatindra Mishra

Golden Lotus Award

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Official Name: Swarna Kamal

All the awardees are awarded with the Golden Lotus Award (Swarna Kamal) accompanied with a cash prize.

Award Book Language Awardee(s) Cash Prize
Best Book on Cinema Mouna Prathanapole Malayalam Publisher: Kerala State Chalachitra Academy
Author: S. Jayachandran Nair
75,000/- each
Best Film Critic N/A  • Malayalam
 • Hindi
 • Blais Johnny
 • Anant Vijay
75,000/-
Special Mention In A Cult Of Their Own: Bollywood Beyond Box Office English Amborish Roychoudhury Certificate Only

References

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  1. ^ "The Economic Times". IANS. 24 April 2019. Archived from the original on 23 May 2019. Retrieved 26 April 2019.
  2. ^ "66th National Film Awards" (PDF) (Press release). Directorate of Film Festivals. Archived from the original (PDF) on 9 August 2019. Retrieved 11 August 2019.
  3. ^ a b "Call for entries; 66th National Film Awards for 2018" (PDF). Directorate of Film Festivals. Archived (PDF) from the original on 21 January 2019. Retrieved 20 January 2019.
  4. ^ "17th National Film Awards" (PDF). Directorate of Film Festivals. p. 38. Archived (PDF) from the original on 25 July 2020. Retrieved 2 September 2020.
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