The 35th National Film Awards were 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 1987. Ceremony took place in April 1988 and awards were given by then President of India, R. Venkataraman.
Starting with 35th National Film Awards, National Film Award for Best Direction for Feature films section is awarded with Swarna Kamal (Golden Lotus). In the non-feature films section, two new awards were instituted and awarded with Rajat Kamal (Silver Lotus) namely, Best Educational / Motivational Film and Best Short Fiction Film.
Awards
Awards were divided into feature films, non-feature films and books written on Indian cinema.
Lifetime Achievement Award
Name of AwardImageAwardee(s)Awarded AsAwardsDadasaheb Phalke AwardRaj KapoorActor, Film director and Film producerSwarna Kamal, and a Shawl
Feature films
Feature films were awarded at All India as well as regional level. For 35th National Film Awards, an Assamese film, Halodhia Choraye Baodhan Khai won the National Film Award for Best Feature Film and a Malayalam film, Anantaram along with a Tamil film, Nayakan and a Hindi film, Tamas won the maximum number of awards (3). Following were the awards given in each category:
Juries
A committee headed by Shyam Benegal was appointed to evaluate the feature films awards. Following were the jury members:
Jury Members Shyam Benegal (Chairperson)Abdul MajidAmita MalikSowcar JanakiJaya BachchanNachiket PatwardhanB. S. NarayanaPavithranSadhu MeherSalil ChowdhuryShaji N. KarunU. S. Vadiraj
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 FilmHalodhia Choraye Baodhan KhaiAssameseProducer: Sailadhar Baruah and Jahnu Barua 50,000/-director: Jahnu Barua 25,000/-Citation: For its mastery of cinematic form and the totality of its film craft and for its authentic depiction of the Indian rural problem and for the life affirmating human dignity it portrays in the face of the most trying social circumstances.Best Debut Film of a DirectorEkti JibanBengaliProducer: ChalchitraDirector: Raja Mitra 25,000/- EachCitation: For a very courageous first attempt of a director in tackling the subject of an individual unwavering in his conviction in the cultural value of his language and single handly making available its enriching value to the generation of his people who will come after him.Best Feature Film Providing Popular and Wholesome EntertainmentPushpaka VimanaKannadaProducer:Singeetam Srinivasa Rao and Shringar Nagaraj 50,000/-Director: Singeetam Srinivasa Rao 25,000/-Citation: For its innovative approach to entertainment.Best Children's FilmSwamyHindiProducer: T. S. Narasimhan 30,000/-Director: Shankar Nag 15,000/-Citation: For the delightful recreation of childhood and growing up in an Indian village during the freedom movement.Best DirectionAnantaramMalayalamAdoor Gopalakrishnan 25,000/-Citation: For the exceptional mastery of the craft in dealing with a very complex and unusual subject for the cinema.
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 IntegrationTamasHindiProducer: M/s Blaze Entertainment 30,000/-Director: Govind Nihalani 15,000/-Citation: For recreating without compromise the tragic events leading to the communal holocaust at the eve of partition in a Punjab village.Best Film on Other Social IssuesOre Oru GramathileyTamilProducer: M/s Janani Arts Creations 30,000/-Director: Jyothipandian 15,000/-Vedham PudhithuProducer: S. Rangarajan 30,000/-Director: Bharathiraja 15,000/-Citation: For tackling the problem of caste differences and discrimination from the opposite ends of the hierarchy in their own way in a convincing manner and for the rigorous statement they make and the solutions they offer.Best ActorNayakanTamilKamal Haasan 10,000/-Citation: For his outstanding and moving portrayal of a multi-faceted character with subtle moral nuances played with total control and extraordinary histrionic skill.Best ActressVeeduTamilArchana 10,000/-Citation: For the totally naturalistic portrayal of a middle class working woman faced with everyday tensions of living and her attempts to overcome the ever-increasing problems of urban life.Best Supporting ActorRithubhedamMalayalamThilakan 10,000/-Citation: For his sharp and incisive delineation of the immorality of a human being who is weak and mean.Best Supporting ActressTamasHindiSurekha Sikri 10,000/-Citation: For her compelling performance as a woman who has not lost her innate human goodness even under the most adverse and stressful conditions of the holocaust.Best Child ArtistSwamyHindiMaster Manjunath 10,000/-Citation: For his utterly charming and delightful portrayal of a young school going village boy who is combination of innocence and mischief, pointing to the inherent natural wisdom of the young.Best Male Playback SingerUnnikale Oru Kadha ParayamMalayalamK. J. Yesudas 10,000/-Citation: For the vivacity and mellifluous rendering of the theme song, giving full and meaningful expression to the lyric.Best Female Playback SingerIjaazatHindiAsha Bhosle 10,000/-Citation: For her rendition with high professional skill and expression, of the many nuances of emotion and meaning of the highly poetic lyrics.Best CinematographyNayakanTamilP. C. Sreeram 15,000/-Citation: For the precise interpretation in lighting and camera operation adding a very vital dimension to the narrative.Best ScreenplayAnantaramMalayalamAdoor Gopalakrishnan 10,000/-Citation: For the precision in structuring a very complex narrative content requiring both exceptional dramatic and literary skills.Best AudiographyAnantaramMalayalamP. DevadasT. KrishnanunniN. Harikumar 10,000/-Citation: For harnessing all the elements of sounds, music and silence to create a perfect complement to the visual design of the film.Best EditingVedham PudhithuTamilP. Mohanraj 10,000/-Citation: For being able to find an original editing vocabulary appropriate to the story in order to create a perfect blend of narrational and motivating elements.Best Art DirectionNayakanTamilThotta Tharani 10,000/-Citation: For interpreting the visual content of the film as authentically as possible, both in the design and construction of the sets and the colour schemes, to create the appropriate atmosphere and character of the film.Best Costume DesignPestonjeeHindiRamilla PatelMani Rabadi 10,000/-Citation: For recreating the costumes of the period and the Parsi community with meticulous attention to detail, enhancing the quality of the film.Best Music DirectionTamasHindiVanraj Bhatia 10,000/-Citation: For creating a thematic score on a heroic scale through melody and complex harmonic arrangements of a symphonic character to stress the human anguish during the holocaust that followed partition, helping greatly in defining the tragic dimensions of the events.Best LyricsIjaazatHindiGulzar 10,000/-Citation: For an extremely elegant lyric using subtle similies and metaphors to express attachment, desire and parting and finally to serve as a definition to love within the context of the film.Special Jury AwardM. B. Sreenivasan (Posthumously) 10,000/-Citation: For his contribution to a whole genre of film music, for promoting the welfare of technicians of all disciplines in the film industry and for pioneering choral music of a very high order and community singing on a national scale.
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 AssamesePratham RaginiProducer: S. N. Bora 20,000/-Director: Dhiru Bhuyan 10,000/-Citation: For significant achievement as a first film in a region still young in cinema and for the portrayal of a young girl's courage and optimism in the face of great adversity and personal tragedy.Best Feature Film in BengaliAntarjali JatraProducer: NFDC 20,000/-Director: Gautam Ghose 10,000/-Citation: For creating through an event of the early 19th century a universal parable of exploitation, life and death with an underlying faith in the inevitability of change.Best Feature Film in HindiPestonjeeProducer: NFDC 20,000/-Director: Vijaya Mehta 10,000/-Citation: For creating an exquisite and gentle tale full of irony, stressing the universal need for human companionship, loyalty and acceptance of life.Best Feature Film in KannadaKadina BenkiProducer: M/s Manasa Arts 20,000/-Director: Suresh Heblikar 10,000/-Citation: For its sincerity in its attempt to delve into the problem of marital discords due to psychological imbalance in an artistic manner.Best Feature Film in MalayalamPurusharthamProducer: P. T. K. Mohammad 20,000/-Director: K. R. Mohanan 10,000/-Citation: For creating highly disciplined work of great formal quality of a little boy's discovery of his dead father's environment and his eventual alienation from his mother.Best Feature Film in MarathiSarjaProducer: Seema Deo 20,000/-Director: Rajdutt 10,000/-Citation: For its patriotic vigour in the retelling of a story set during the turbulent times of Shivaji.Best Feature Film in OriyaNishidhdha SwapnaProducer: Manmohan Mahapatra 20,000/-Director: Manmohan Mahapatra 10,000/-Citation: For its uncompromising technique in objectively observing in life of a family in an Oriya village defining the attitudes, motivations, hopes and disillusionment of each one in the context of social change of which they are all a part.Best Feature Film in TamilVeeduProducer: Kaladas 20,000/-Director: Balu Mahendra 10,000/-Citation: For a deeply compassionate portrayal of a middle class working woman with an old grandfather and sister as her dependents, attempting to retain the integrity of her family in the present day urban milieu.
Non-Feature Films
Short Films made in any Indian language and 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 Buddhadeb Dasgupta was appointed to evaluate the non-feature films awards. Following were the jury members:
Jury Members Buddhadeb Dasgupta (Chairperson)K. K. KapilN. LakshminarayanK. ViswanathRam Mohan
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 Non-Feature FilmBhopal: Beyond GenocideEnglishProducer: Cinemart FoundationDirector: Tapan Bose, Suhasini Mulay and Salim Shaikh 25,000/- EachCitation: For its sincere, conscientious study of a very important socio-technological issue of recent times, which explores its subject with a multi-faceted and humanistic approach.
Silver Lotus Award
Official Name: Rajat Kamal
All the awardees are awarded with 'Silver Lotus Award (Rajat Kamal)' and cash prize.