The 2nd National Film Awards, then known as State Awards for Films, presented by Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, India to felicitate the best of Indian Cinema released in the year 1954. Ceremony took place at Vigyan Bhavan, New Delhi on 21 December 1955 and awards were given by then President of India, Rajendra Prasad.
With the increasing number of films made in India, couple of new awards were introduced. Starting with 2nd National Film Awards, awards were divided into feature film and non-feature film awards. Feature films were, again, awarded at All India and Regional level. Awards were given to seven regional language films which are in Bengali, Hindi, Kannada, Malayalam, Marathi, Tamil and Telugu.
At All India level, Children's films were awarded with its own category where awards were categorised as Prime Minister's gold medal and Certificate of Merit. For all other categories, awards were given as President's gold medal and Certificate of Merit. Regional films were awarded with President's silver medal for Best Feature Film and Certificate of Merit. Non-feature film awards were awarded for documentaries made in the country.
Juries
Three different committees were formed based on the film making sectors in India, mainly based in Bombay, Calcutta and Madras. Another committee for all India level was also formed which included some of the members from regional committee. For 2nd National Film Awards, central committee was headed by R. R. Diwakar.
Jury Members: Central R. R. Diwakar (Chairperson)N. K. SiddhantaT. M. Narayanaswami PillaiM. D. BhatKamaladevi ChattopadhyaySatyavati MallikSyed NurullahS. S. VasanV. ShantaramR. SubbaraoArdhendu Mukerjee Jury Regional: Bombay M. D. Bhat (Chairperson)Kusumavati DeshpandeM. R. PalandeMoti ChandraBhagwati Charan VermaV. K. GokakVijay BhattKishore SahuJagdish Sethi Jury Regional: Calcutta N. K. Siddhanta (Chairperson)Sabita DeviKalidas NagO. C. GangulySudhir MukerjeeK. L. Chattarjee Jury Regional: Madras T. M. Narayanaswami Pillai (Chairperson)ManjubhashiniMu. VaradarajanR. SubbaraoB. Ramakrishna RajuAiyapanA. RamaiahK. Ramnath
Awards
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
Feature films were awarded at All India as well as regional level. For the 2nd National Film Awards, in this category, Mirza Ghalib, a biographical Hindi / Urdu film, based on the life of well-known poet Mirza Ghalib, along with a Malayalam film, Neelakuyil won the maximum number of awards (two), with former also winning the President's gold medal for the All India Best Feature Film. Following were the awards given:
All India Award
For 2nd National Film Awards, none of the films were awarded from Children's films category as no film was found to be suitable.
AwardFilmLanguageAwardee(s) Producer DirectorPresident's gold medal for the All India Best Feature FilmMirza GhalibHindiMinerva MoviestoneSohrab Modi All India Certificate of Merit Neelakuyil Malayalam Chandrathara ProductionsP. BhaskaranRamu KariatBiraj BahuHindiHiten Chaudhary ProductionsBimal Roy
Regional Award
The awards were given to the best films made in the regional languages of India. For 2nd National Film Awards, awards were given in seven regional language films which are in Bengali, Hindi, Kannada, Malayalam, Marathi, Tamil and Telugu.
Awardof FilmAwardee(s) Producer DirectorFeature Films in BengaliPresident's silver medal for Best Feature FilmChheley KaarCharan ChitraChitta BoseCertificate of MeritJadu BhattaSunrise Film DistributorsNiren LahiriAnnapurnar MandirChitra MandirNaresh MitraFeature Films in HindiPresident's silver medal for Best Feature FilmMirza GhalibMinerva MoviestoneSohrab ModiCertificate of MeritJagritiFilmistan Ltd.Satyen BoseFeature Films in KannadaCertificate of MeritBedara KannappaGubbi Karnataka ProductionsH. L. N. SimhaFeature Films in Malayalam President's silver medal for Best Feature Film Neelakuyil Chandrathara ProductionsP. Bhaskaran Ramu KariatCertificate of MeritSnehaseemaAssociate PicturesDakshina MurthyFeature Films in MarathiPresident's silver medal for Best Feature FilmMahatma PhuleAtre PicturesPralhad Keshav AtreFeature Films in TamilPresident's silver medal for Best Feature FilmMalaikkallanPakshiraja StudiosS. M. Sriramulu NaiduCertificate of MeritAndha NaalAVM ProductionsS. BalachanderEdhir ParadhathuSaravanabhava and Unity PicturesC. H. Narayana MoorthyFeature Films in TeluguPresident's silver medal for Best Feature FilmPeddamanushuluVauhini ProductionsK. V. ReddyCertificate of MeritThodu DongaluNational Art TheatresD. YoganandVipra NarayanaBharani PicturesP. S. Ramakrishna Rao
Non-Feature films
Non-feature film awards were given for the documentaries made in the country. Following were the awards given:
Documentaries
AwardFilmLanguageAwardee(s) Producer DirectorPresident's gold medal for the Best Documentary FilmSpirit of the LoomEnglishFilms DivisionV. R. SarmaCertificate of MeritDarjeelingEnglishFilms DivisionK. L. KhandpurGolden RiverEnglishFilms DivisionP. V. Pathy
Awards not given
Following awards were not given as no film was found to be suitable for the award:
Prime Minister's gold medal for the Best Children's Film President's silver medal for Best Feature Film in Kannada
References
External links National Film Awards Archives Official Page for Directorate of Film Festivals, India