The 21st 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 1973. Ceremony took place in October 1974 and awards were given by Prime Minister Indira Gandhi.
Juries
Prior to 21st National Film Awards, there used to be regional committees at Bombay (Mumbai), Calcutta (Kolkata) and Madras (Chennai), the recommendations of which were then considered by central committee. To avoid this long-winded process, regional committees were discarded.
Two different committees were formed for feature films and short films, headed by Romesh Thapar and S. K. Kooka respectively.
Jury Members: Feature Films Romesh Thapar (Chairperson)Usha BhagatTeji BachchanIsmat ChughtaiM. Yunus DehlviAshis Burman Firoze RangoonwallaDina PathakB. V. KaranthT. S. PillaiT. K. MahadevanJ. Swaminathan Dileep PadgaonkarSubodh MukherjeeU. Visweswar RawAsim PaulTarun MajumdarAnanta Patnaik Illindula Saraswathi DeviM. BhaktavatsalaSai ParanjpyeK. R. K. MenonO. V. Vijayan Jury Members: Short Films S. K. Kooka (Chairperson)Balwant GargiNalni SoniKomal Kothari
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.
Lifetime Achievement Award
AwardImageAwardee(s)Awarded AsCash PrizeDadasaheb Phalke AwardRuby Myers (Sulochana)Actress20,000, a gold medal and a shawl
Feature films
Feature films were awarded at All India as well as regional level. For 21st National Film Awards, a Malayalam film Nirmalyam won the President's gold medal for the All India Best Feature Film; whereas a Bengali film Ashani Sanket and a Kannada film Kaadu won the maximum number of awards (three). Following were the awards given in each category:
All India Award
Following were the awards given:
AwardFilmLanguageAwardee(s)Cash PrizeBest Feature FilmNirmalyamMalayalamProducer: M. T. Vasudevan NairGold Medal and 40,000Director: M. T. Vasudevan NairSecond Best Feature FilmKaaduKannadaProducer: K. N. NarayanSilver Medal and 15,000Producer: G. N. LakshmipathyDirector: Girish KarnadSilver Medal and 10,000Best Feature Film on National IntegrationGarm HavaHindiProducer: M/s Unit 3 MMA Medal and 30,000Director: M. S. SathyuA Medal and 20,000Best Cinematography (Black and White)27 DownHindiApurba Kishore BirSilver Medal and 5,000Best Cinematography (Color)Ashani SanketBengaliSoumendu RoySilver Medal and 5,000Best DirectionDuvidhaHindiMani KaulSilver Medal and 20,000Best Actor (Bharat Award)NirmalyamMalayalamP. J. AntonyA figurineBest Actress (Urvashi Award)KaaduKannadaNandini BhaktavatsalaA figurineBest Child ArtistKaaduKannadaG. S. NatarajSilver MedalBest Male Playback SingerGayathriMalayalamK. J. YesudasSilver MedalBest Music DirectionAshani SanketBengaliSatyajit RaySilver Medal and 10,000Best ScreenplayPadatikBengaliMrinal SenSilver Medal and 10,000Ashish BurmanBest StoryGarm HavaHindiIsmat ChughtaiSilver Medal and 10,000Kaifi Azmi
Regional Award
The awards were given to the best films made in the regional languages of India. For feature films in English, Gujarati, Kashmiri, Meitei, Marathi, Oriya, Punjabi and Telugu language, President's silver medal for Best Feature Film was not given. The producer of the film was awarded with a silver medal and 10,000, the director of the film was awarded with a silver medal and 5,000, and leading actors were awarded with a souvenir.
AwardFilmAwardee(s) Producer Director Actor ActressBest Feature Film in AssameseMamtaNalin DowerahEva AchowRudra BaruahNalin DowerahPrafulla DuttaShiba ThakurBest Feature Film in BengaliAshani SanketSarbeni BhattacharyaSatyajit RaySoumitra ChatterjeeBobitaBest Feature Film in Hindi27 DownAwatar Krishna KaulAwatar Krishna KaulM. K. RainaRaakheeBest Feature Film in KannadaAbachurina Post OfficePatre C. VinayakN. LakshminarayanB. N. NarayanGirijaBest Feature Film in MalayalamGayathriA. R. Shreedharan ElayidomP. N. MenonV. RaghavanJayabharathiP. B. AshramBest Feature Film in TamilDikkatra ParvathiM/s NavatarangSingeetam Srinivasa RaoSrikanthLakshmi
Non-Feature films
Following were the awards given:
Short films and Documentaries
AwardFilmLanguageAwardee(s)Cash PrizeBest Information Film (Documentary)The Flame Burns BrightEnglishProducer: Ashish MukherjeeSilver Medal and 5,000Director: Ashish MukherjeeBest Educational / Instructional FilmSath Kutch Na JayegaHindiProducer: Dhiru MistrySilver Medal and 5,000Director: Sureshwar SinghBest Film on Social DocumentationLand of KrishnaEnglishProducer: G. L. BhardwajSilver Medal and 5,000Director: G. L. BhardwajBest Promotional Film (Commercial)Delhi the City BeautifulEnglishProducer: Jagdish BanerjeeSilver MedalDirector: Jagdish BanerjeeBest Promotional Film (Non-Commercial)Fibre The Fabric of LifeEnglishProducer: Khadi and Village Industries CommissionSilver MedalDirector: G. L. BhardwajBest Experimental FilmHomi Bhabha - A Scientist in ActionEnglishProducer: Jagat MurariSilver Medal and 5,000Director: K. VishwanathSilver Medal and 4,000
Awards not given
Following were the awards not given as no film was found to be suitable for the award:
Best Film on Family Welfare Best Children's Film Lyric Writer of the Best Film Song on National Integration Best Female Playback Singer Best Animation Film President's silver medal for Best Feature Film in English President's silver medal for Best Feature Film in Manipuri President's silver medal for Best Feature Film in Marathi President's silver medal for Best Feature Film in Oriya President's silver medal for Best Feature Film in Punjabi President's silver medal for Best Feature Film in Telugu
Explanatory notes
References
External links National Film Awards Archives Official Page for Directorate of Film Festivals, India