The 9th 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 1961. The awards were announced on 5 April 1962 and were presented on 21 April at the Vigyan Bhavan in New Delhi, by then Vice-President of India, Dr. Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan.
Selection process The Central Committee for State Awards for Films for the year was headed by politician and author R. R. Diwakar. To select films for the awards, the committee viewed "27 feature films, five children's films, seven documentaries and six educational films and a few filmstrips" between 19 March and 2 April 1962.
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 9th National Film Awards, a Bengali film Bhagini Nivedita won the President's Gold Medal for the All India Best Feature Film. Following were the awards given:
All India Award
Following were the awards given in each category:
AwardFilmLanguageAwardee(s)Cash prizePresident's Gold Medal for the All India Best Feature FilmBhagini NiveditaBengaliProducer: Aurora Film CorporationGold Medal and 20,000Director: Bijoy Bose5,000All India Certificate of Merit for the Second Best Feature FilmPava MannippuTamilProducer: Buddha PicturesCertificate of Merit and 10,000Director: A. Bhimsingh2,500All India Certificate of Merit for the Third Best Feature FilmPrapanchMarathiProducer: Indian National PicturesCertificate of Merit onlyDirector: Madhukar PathakPrime Minister's Gold Medal for the Best Children's FilmHattogol VijayHindiProducer: Hari S. Dasgupta ProductionsGold Medal and 20,000Director: Buju Das Gupta 5,000Director: Raghunath GoswamiAll India Certificate of Merit for the Second Best Children's FilmSavitriHindiProducer: Children's Film SocietyCertificate of Merit and 10,000Director: Phani Majumdar2,500All India Certificate of Merit for the Third Best Children's FilmNanhe Munne SitareHindiProducer: Ajay Kumar ChakravartyCertificate of Merit onlyDirector: Ajay Kumar Chakravarty
Regional Award
The awards were given to the best films made in the regional languages of India. For 9th National Film Awards, President's Silver Medal for Best Feature Film was not given in Gujarati, Kannada and Odia language; instead Certificate of Merit was awarded in each particular language.
AwardFilmAwardee(s) Producer DirectorFeature Films in AssamesePresident's Silver Medal for Best Feature FilmShakuntalaKamrup ChitraBhupen HazarikaFeature Films in BengaliPresident's Silver Medal for Best Feature FilmSamaptiSatyajit RaySatyajit RayCertificate of Merit for Second Best Feature FilmSaptapadiUttam KumarAjoy KarCertificate of Merit for Third Best Feature FilmPunaschaMrinal SenMrinal SenFeature Films in GujaratiCertificate of Merit for Best Feature FilmNandanvanShrikumar V. GaglaniGanpatrao BrahmbhattFeature Films in HindiPresident's Silver Medal for Best Feature FilmDharmputraB. R. ChopraYash ChopraCertificate of Merit for Second Best Feature FilmGunga JumnaDilip KumarNitin BoseCertificate of Merit for Third Best Feature FilmPyaar Ki PyaasAnupam ChitraMahesh KaulFeature Films in KannadaCertificate of Merit for Best Feature FilmKittur ChennammaPadmini PicturesB. R. PanthuluFeature Films in MalayalamPresident's Silver Medal for Best Feature FilmMudiyanaya PuthranChandrathara ProductionsRamu KariatCertificate of Merit for Second Best Feature FilmKandam Becha KottuModern TheatresT. R. SundaramCertificate of Merit for Third Best Feature FilmSabarimala Sri AyyappanK. KuppuswamyS. M. Sriramulu NaiduFeature Films in MarathiPresident's Silver Medal for Best Feature FilmManiniKala ChitraAnant ManeCertificate of Merit for Second Best Feature FilmVaijayantaRekha FilmsGajanan JagirdarCertificate of Merit for Third Best Feature FilmManasala Pankh AstatMadhav ShindeMadhav ShindeFeature Films in OdiaCertificate of Merit for Best Feature FilmNua BouRam Krishna TripathyPrabhat MukherjeeFeature Films in TamilPresident's Silver Medal for Best Feature FilmKappalottiya ThamizhanPadmini PicturesB. R. PanthuluCertificate of Merit for Second Best Feature FilmPasamalarRajamani PicturesA. BhimsinghCertificate of Merit for Third Best Feature FilmKumudhamModern TheatresAdurthi Subba RaoFeature Films in TeluguPresident's Silver Medal for Best Feature FilmBharya BharthaluPrasad Art Pictures Pvt Ltd.K. Pratyagatma
Non-Feature films
Non-feature film awards were given for the documentaries and educational films made in the country. Following were the awards given:
Documentaries
AwardFilmLanguageAwardee(s)Cash prizePresident's Gold Medal for the Best Documentary FilmRabindranath TagoreEnglishProducer: Films DivisionGold Medal and 4,000Director: Satyajit Ray1,000All India Certificate of Merit for the Second Best Documentary FilmOur Feathered FriendsEnglishProducer: Films DivisionCertificate of Merit and 2,000Director: Gopal Datt500All India Certificate of Merit for the Third Best Documentary FilmRomance of the Indian CoinEnglishProducer: Films DivisionCertificate of Merit onlyDirector: G. H. Saraiya
Educational films
AwardFilmLanguageAwardee(s)Cash prizePrime Minister's Gold Medal for the Best Educational FilmCitrus CultivationEnglishProducer: Films DivisionGold Medal and 4,000Director: Krishna Kapil1,000All India Certificate of Merit for the Second Best Educational FilmCoir WorkerEnglishProducer: F. R. BilimoriaCertificate of Merit onlyDirector: F. R. BilimoriaAll India Certificate of Merit for the Third Best Educational FilmAhvanHindiProducer: Dhruva Kumar PandyaCertificate of Merit onlyDirector: Dhruva Kumar Pandya
Awards not given
Following were the awards not given as no film was found to be suitable for the award:
President's Silver Medal for Best Feature Film in Kannada President's Silver Medal for Best Feature Film in Oriya
References
External links National Film Awards Archives Official Page for Directorate of Film Festivals, India