16th National Film Awards

The 16th National Film Awards, presented by Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, India to felicitate the best of Indian Cinema released in 1968.[1][2] Ceremony took place at Vigyan Bhavan, New Delhi on 13 February 1970.

16th National Film Awards
16th National Film Awards
Awarded forBest of Indian cinema in 1968
Presented byV. V. Giri
(President of India)
Presented on13 February 1970 (1970-02-13)
SiteVigyan Bhavan, New Delhi
Official websitedff.nic.in
Highlights
Best Feature FilmGoopy Gyne Bagha Byne
Most awards • Aashirwad
 • Goopy Gyne Bagha Byne
 • Kuzhanthaikkaga
 • Saraswatichandra
 • Thillaanaa Mohanambal
 • Thulabharam (2)

With 16th National Film Awards, three new awards were introduced, mainly for Best Film on Family Welfare, Best Child Artist and Best Film Lyric Writer. Moreover, for male and female singers, awards were differentiated with Best Male Playback Singer and Best Female Playback Singer respectively.

Juries

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Six different committees were formed based on the film making sectors in India, mainly based in Bombay, Calcutta and Madras along with the award categories. Another committee for all India level was also formed which included some of the members from regional committee. For 16th National Film Awards, central committee was headed by Justice G. D. Khosla.[1]

Awards

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Awards were divided into feature films and non-feature films.

President's Gold Medal for the All India Best Feature Film is now better known as National Film Award for Best Feature Film, whereas President's Gold Medal for the Best Documentary Film is analogous to today's National Film Award for Best Non-Feature Film. For children's films, Prime Minister's Gold Medal is now given as National Film Award for Best Children's Film. At the regional level, President's Silver Medal for Best Feature Film is now given as National Film Award for Best Feature Film in a particular language. Certificate of Merit in all the categories is discontinued over the years.

Feature films

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Feature films were awarded at All India as well as regional level. For 16th National Film Awards, a Bengali film Goopy Gyne Bagha Byne won the President's Gold Medal for the All India Best Feature Film, with also winning the maximum number of awards (two); along with two Hindi films, Aashirwad and Saraswatichandra with a Malayalam film, Thulabharam and a Tamil film, Thillaanaa Mohanambal. Following were the awards given in each category:[1]

All India Award

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Following were the awards given:[1]

Award Film Language Awardee(s) Cash Prize
Best Feature Film Goopy Gyne Bagha Byne Bengali Producer: Nepal Dutta Gold Medal and 20,000
Producer: Asim Dutta
Director: Satyajit Ray 5,000 and a plaque
Second Best Feature Film Thulabharam Malayalam Producer: M/s. Supriya Pictures 5,000 and a medal
Director: A. Vincent 2,000 and a plaque
Best Film on Family Welfare Anchal Ke Phool Hindi Producer: M. R. Seth 5,000 and a medal
Director: Karunesh Thakur 2,000 and a plaque
Best Feature Film on National Integration Janmabhoomi Malayalam Producer: M/s. Roopa Rekha 5,000 and a medal
Director: John Sankaramangalam 2,000 and a plaque
Best Children's Film Heerer Prajapati Bengali Producer: Children's Film Society 7,500 and a medal
Director: Shanti P. Chowdhury 2,500 and a plaque
Best Actor (Bharat Award) Aashirwad Hindi Ashok Kumar A figurine
Best Actress (Urvashi Award) Thulabharam Malayalam Sharada A figurine
Best Child Artist Kuzhanthaikkaga Tamil Baby Rani A plaque
Best Direction Goopy Gyne Bagha Byne Bengali Satyajit Ray 5,000 and a plaque
Best Music Direction Saraswatichandra Hindi Kalyanji Anandji 5,000 and a plaque
Best Male Playback Singer Mere Huzoor
(For the song "Jhanak Jhanak Tori Baaje")
Hindi Manna Dey A plaque
Best Female Playback Singer Uyarndha Manithan Tamil P. Susheela A plaque
Lyric Writer of the Best Film Song on National Integration Kuzhanthaikkaga
(For the song "Devan Vanthaan")
Tamil Kannadasan A plaque
Best Screenplay Anokhi Raat Hindi Pandit Anand Kumar 5,000
Best Cinematography (Black and White) Saraswatichandra Hindi Nariman A. Irani 5,000 and a plaque
Best Cinematography (Color) Thillaanaa Mohanambal Tamil K. S. Prasad 5,000 and a plaque

Regional Award

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The awards were given to the best films made in the regional languages of India. For feature films in Assamese, English, Gujarati, Kashmiri and Punjabi language, President's Silver Medal for Best Feature Film was not given. The producer and director of the film were awarded with 5,000 and a Silver medal, respectively.[1]

Award Film Awardee(s)
Producer Director
Best Feature Film in Bengali Apanjan R. N. Malhotra Tapan Sinha
R. K. Kapur
T. M. Shah
Best Feature Film in Hindi Aashirwad N. C. Sippy Hrishikesh Mukherjee
Hrishikesh Mukherjee
Best Feature Film in Kannada Mannina Maga M. V. Venkatachallam Geethapriya
P. Alexander
Best Feature Film in Malayalam Adhyapika M/s. Neela Productions P. Subramaniam
Best Feature Film in Marathi Ektee G. Chaugle Raja Thakur
Best Feature Film in Oriya Stree Parbati Ghose Sidhartha
Best Feature Film in Tamil Thillaanaa Mohanambal Vijayalakshmi A. P. Nagarajan
Best Feature Film in Telugu Varakatnam N. Trivikrama Rao N. T. Rama Rao

Non-Feature films

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Following were the awards given:[1]

Short films

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Award Film Language Awardee(s) Cash Prize
Best Information Film (Documentary) Everest English Producer: Arun Chowdhury for Films Division 5,000 and a medal
Director: N. S. Thapa 2,000 and a plaque
Best Educational / Instructional Film Forest and The Man English Producer: K. L. Khandpur for Films Division 5,000 and a medal
Director: Neil Gokhale 2,000 and a plaque
Director: P. B. Pendharkar
Best Film on Social Documentation Water English Producer: M/s. Fali Billmoria Productions 5,000 and a medal
Director: Fali Billmoria 2,000 and a plaque
Best Experimental Film And I Make Short Films English Producer: K. L. Khandpur for Films Division 5,000 and a medal
Director: S. N. S. Sastry 2,000 and a plaque
Best Animation Film Nag Aur Kauwa Hindi Producer: Children's Film Society 5,000 and a medal
Director: S. B. Nayampally 2,000 and a plaque

Awards not given

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Following were the awards not given as no film was found to be suitable for the award:[1]

References

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  1. ^ a b c d e f g "16th National Film Awards" (PDF). Directorate of Film Festivals. Archived (PDF) from the original on 9 November 2018. Retrieved 2 September 2020.
  2. ^ Times of India, Entertainment. "National Awards Winners 1968: Complete list of winners of National Awards 1968". timesofindia.indiatimes.com. Archived from the original on 11 May 2021. Retrieved 11 August 2021.
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