The 55th National Film Awards, presented by Directorate of Film Festivals, the organisation set up by Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, India to felicitate the best of Indian Cinema released in the year 2007.
Three different committees were instituted in order to judge the various entries for feature film, non-feature film and best writing on cinema sections; headed by National award winner director, Sai Paranjpye, for feature films and Ashoke Viswanathan along with Namita Gokhale for non-feature films and best writing on cinema sections, respectively.
Each chairperson announced the award on 7 September 2009 for their respective sections and award ceremony took place at Vigyan Bhavan, New Delhi with President of India, Pratibha Patil giving away the awards on 21 October 2009.
Awards
Awards were divided into feature films, non-feature films and books written on Indian cinema.
Lifetime Achievement Award
Lifetime achievement award is given to the prominent personality from the Indian film industry for the significant contributions given.
Juries
A committee consisting four eminent personalities from Indian film industry was appointed to evaluate the lifetime achievement award, Dadasaheb Phalke Award. Following were the jury members:
Jury members Akkineni Nageswara RaoYash ChopraVijaya MulayAmjad Ali Khan
Name of awardImageAwardee(s)Awarded asAwardsDadasaheb Phalke Award Manna DeyPlayback singerSwarna Kamal, 1,000,000 and a shawl
Feature films
Feature films were awarded at All India as well as regional level. For 55th National Film Awards, a Tamil film, Kanchivaram won the National Film Award for Best Feature Film; whereas a Hindi film, Gandhi, My Father won the maximum number of awards (3). Following were the awards given in each category:
Juries
A committee headed by Sai Paranjpye was appointed to evaluate the feature films awards. Following were the jury members:
Jury members Sai Paranjpye (Chairperson)Nemai GhoshManju BorahAhsan MuzidArup MannaMohan SharmaK. S. Sivaraman Rajendra Narayan TalakKesari HarvooErvelle MenezesSibi MalayilSunny JosephSatya PaulPratibha Prahlad
All India Award
Following were the awards given:
Golden Lotus Award
Official name: Swarna Kamal
All the awardees are awarded with 'Golden Lotus Award (Swarna Kamal)', a certificate and cash prize.
Name of AwardName of FilmLanguageAwardee(s)Cash prizeBest Feature FilmKanchivaramTamilProducer: Percept Picture CompanyDirector: Priyadarshan 2,50,000/- EachCitation: For presenting a rare portrayal of Kanchi's silk weaver community, and the internal struggle of a weaver caught between his ideals and personal reams. A vibrant story and technical excellence blend to create a total cinematic experience.Best Debut Film of A DirectorFrozenHindi, LadakhiProducer: Shivajee ChandrabhushanDirector: Shivajee Chandrabhushan 1,25,000/- EachCitation: For bringing to life with warmth and vivacity life in those distant desolate snow bound heights where existence itself is a fulltime challenge.Best Popular Film Providing Wholesome EntertainmentChak De! IndiaHindiProducer: Aditya ChopraDirector: Shimit Amin 2,00,000/- EachCitation: For thoroughly entertaining the audience, making one proud to be an Indian. A masterpiece of inspired filmmaking.Best Children's FilmFotoHindiProducer: Children's Film SocietyDirector: Virendra Saini 1,50,000/- EachCitation: For unfolding a magic world of images and sound to a talented young child by highlighting the milestones of cinema history in a lucid manner.Best Animated FilmInimey NangathanTamilProducer: S. SrideviDirector: S. Venky Baboo 1,00,000/- EachCitation: For creating endearing characters who with their breath taking quixotic antics, battle the evil force of greed, in a refreshingly new manner. For taking animation in a new direction.Best DirectionNaalu PennungalMalayalamAdoor Gopalakrishnan 2,50,000/-Citation: For his delicate and subtle handling of gender issues in a conventional society. Four women of different marital status are trivialised and subjected to abject neglect by their immediate partners and family.
Silver Lotus Award
Official name: Rajat Kamal
All the awardees are awarded with 'Silver Lotus Award (Rajat Kamal)', a certificate and cash prize.
Name of AwardName of FilmLanguageAwardee(s)Cash prizeBest Feature Film on National IntegrationDharmHindiProducer: Sheetal V. TalwarDirector: Bhavna Talwar 1,50,000/- EachCitation: For powerfully bringing forth the message that humanity is of much greater value than religion. The transformation of an orthodox and superstitious priest is very beautifully depicted.Best Film on Family WelfareTaare Zameen ParHindiProducer: Aamir KhanDirector: Aamir Khan 1,50,000/- EachCitation: For realistically depicting the psychological dialectic between an ordinary family driving their children to educational excellence, thereby neglecting their specially gifted child dealing with the problem of dyslexia in isolation.Best Film on Other Social IssuesAntardwandHindiProducer: Sushil RajpalDirector: Sushil Rajpal 1,50,000/- EachCitation: For exposing the "marriages for sale" racket and dramatically presenting a browbeaten girl who finds her courage and her voice and rebels against her tyrannical father.Best ActorKanchivaramTamilPrakash Raj 50,000/-Citation: For his sensible multilayered portrayal of a weaver caught in a web of silken threads, woven by destiny.Best ActressGulabi TalkiesKannadaUmashree 50,000/-Citation: For a heart rending portrayal of the sorry plight of a wronged woman belonging to a minority community surrounded by an uncaring and hostile society.Best Supporting ActorGandhi, My FatherHindiEnglishDarshan Jariwala 50,000/-Citation: For truthfully portraying the angst of a great historical figure – Mahatma Gandhi. The Father of the Nation stands defeated in his personal relationship with his own son.Best Supporting ActressThe Last LearEnglishShefali Shah 50,000/-Citation: For her smoldering portrayal of a woman dealing with her intense relationship with an older man with a towering personality.Best Child ArtistTingyaMarathiSharad Goekar 50,000/-Citation: For covering the range from tenderness to angry defiance with consummate ease, while portraying Tingya – a boy whose love for his Ox is the driving force of his young life.Best Male Playback SingerTaare Zameen Par HindiShankar Mahadevan 50,000/-Citation: For the plaintive rendition of a soulful song which is a musical expression of a theme which touches the heart.Best Female Playback SingerJab We MetHindiShreya Ghoshal 50,000/-Citation: For her mellifluous voice and rich tonal quality. Her rendition evokes the beauty of nature through its subtle nuances.Best CinematographyFrozenHindi and LadakhiCameraman: Shanker RamanLaboratory Processing: Deluxe Laboratories Inc. 50,000/- EachCitation: For the artistic and technical excellence of cinematography revealed through superb reproduction of tonalities and stark compositions, maintaining the texture on high altitude.Best ScreenplayGandhi, My FatherHindiEnglishFeroz Abbas Khan 50,000/-Citation: For the imaginative and emotional handling of uncompromisingly steadfast side of the Father of the Nation with special reference to his relationship with his troublesome son.Best Audiography1971HindiKunal Sharma 50,000/-Citation: For capturing the mood and tension of that wartorn period which marked the climax of the deteriorating ties with our neighbours.Best EditingNaalu PennungalMalayalamB. Ajith Kumar 50,000/-Citation: For presenting at a uniform pace four different stories which unfold as a single entity.Best Art DirectionOm Shanti OmHindiSabu Cyril 50,000/-Citation: For creating authentic film settings of 1970s and recreating them in a dilapidated condition a generation later.Best Costume DesignKrishnakanter WillBengaliRuma Sengupta 50,000/-Citation: For creating realistic characters during that historic period when lavish costumes and colourful court life, were the order of the day.Best Make-up ArtistParadesiMalayalamPattanam Rasheed 50,000/-Citation: For technical excellence of detailing through makeup the character of the protagonist.Best Music DirectionOre KadalMalayalamOuseppachan 50,000/-Citation: For achieving through music the poignancy of the turmoil of unconventional love.Best LyricsTaare Zameen ParHindiPrasoon Joshi 50,000/-Citation: For the soulful poetry that captures the trauma of a family beset with a rare problem of their little son who is happily saved by an understanding teacher.Best Special EffectsSivajiTamilM/s Indian Artists 50,000/-Citation: For the pioneering effort of rendering tones and textures that assume realistic proportions. Turing dark skin tone to fair by painstaking computer graphic work is most convincingly done.Best ChoreographyJab We MetHindiSaroj Khan 50,000/-Citation: For the lively depiction of a colourful local hill song against a mountainous backdrop.Special Jury AwardGandhi, My FatherHindiEnglishAnil Kapoor (Producer)Feroz Abbas Khan (Director) 62,500/- EachCitation: For throwing light on a relatively unknown aspect of the Father of the Nation and his stormy relationship with his difficult rebellious son, in a rare and compelling manner.
Regional Awards
The award is given to best film in the regional languages in India.
Name of AwardName of FilmAwardee(s)Cash prizeBest Feature Film in BengaliBallygunge CourtProducer: Ganesh Kumar BagariaDirector: Pinaki Chaudhuri 1,00,000/- EachCitation: For providing a powerful commentary on the travails of ageing in an urban milieu.Best Feature Film in Hindi1971Producer: Sagar Films (Pvt. Ltd.)Director: Amrit Sagar 1,00,000/- EachCitation: For a sensitive depiction of the ordeal of Indian prisoners of war trapped between extreme hostility and official apathy in an alien land and showing fortitude in a hopeless situation.Best Feature Film in KannadaGulabi TalkiesProducer: Basant Kumar PatilDirector: Girish Kasaravalli 1,00,000/- EachCitation: For tracing the impact of new media on a fishing community of coastal Karnataka, against the backdrop of globalised business practices and growing communal tensions between Hindus and Muslims at the turn of the century.Best Feature Film in MalayalamOre KadalProducer: Vindhyan N. B.Director: Shyamaprasad 1,00,000/- EachCitation: For a well crafted movie on the emotional conflict of a middle class housewife irresistibly drawn to a radical intellectual.Best Feature Film in MarathiNiropProducer: Aparna DharmadhikariDirector: Sachin Kundalkar 1,00,000/- EachCitation: For an original offbeat film that gives a fresh perspective of the internal landscapes of the human mind.Best Feature Film in TamilPeriyarProducer: M/s Liberty Creations Ltd.Director: Gnana Rajasekaran 1,00,000/- EachCitation: For a biographical feature which takes on issues like superstition, untouchability, widow remarriage etc by forcefully depicting the life of the great social reformer Shri E. V. Ramaswamy Naicker popularly known as Periyar.
Best Feature Film in Each of the Language Other Than Those Specified In the Schedule VIII of the Constitution
Name of AwardName of FilmAwardee(s)Cash prizeBest Feature Film in EnglishThe Last LearProducer: Arindam ChaudhuriDirector: Rituparno Ghosh 1,00,000/- EachCitation: For a brilliant and visually stunning work of cinema on the life of a reclusive Shakespearian actor, well past his prime. His whimsical and passionate persona makes him a memorable and loveable character.
Non-Feature Films
Films made in any Indian language shot on 16 mm, 35 mm or in a wider gauge or digital format and released on either film format or video/digital but certified by the Central Board of Film Certification as a documentary/newsreel/fiction are eligible for non-feature film section.
Juries
A committee headed by Ashoke Viswanathan was appointed to evaluate the non-feature films awards. Following were the jury members:
Jury Members