The 59th National Film Awards, presented by the Directorate of Film Festivals, honoured the best of Indian cinema for 2011 and took place on 3 May 2012 at Vigyan Bhavan, New Delhi. Awards were presented in 38 categories in the Feature Films section, 20 categories in the Non-Feature Films section and two categories for the Best Writing on Cinema section; 41 jury members chose the winners from 392 entries. The ceremony was hosted by actors Vinay Pathak and Saumya Tandon. Awards were presented by the Vice-President of India, Mohammad Hamid Ansari. The ceremony was broadcast live on three television channels, eleven All India Radio stations, and webcast live.
Deool, a Marathi film, and Byari, the first and only Beary film, shared the award for the Best Feature Film. The award for the Best Non-Feature Film was given to the Hindi-English documentary And We Play On. The book, R. D. Burman: The Man, The Music, co-authored by Anirudha Bhattacharjee and Balaji Vittal, won the Best Book on Cinema; Assamese film critic Manoj Barpujari was declared the Best Film Critic. Gurvinder Singh won the best feature film direction award for his directorial debut, Anhe Ghore Da Daan. For the film Deool, Girish Kulkarni won the awards for Best Actor and Best Dialogue; Bollywood actress Vidya Balan won the Best Actress award for The Dirty Picture. The Dadasaheb Phalke Award, regarded as the most prestigious recognition in Indian cinema, was given to the veteran Bengali actor Soumitra Chatterjee for his contribution to Bengali cinema.
Selection process
The Directorate of Film Festivals invited nominations for the 2012 award ceremony on 26 December 2011. Feature and Non-Feature Films certified by the Central Board of Film Certification between 1 January 2011, and 31 December 2011, were eligible for the film award categories. The written material on Indian cinema published in Indian print media during the same period were eligible for the best writing on cinema section. The dubbed, revised or copied versions of a film or translation, abridgements, edited or annotated works and reprints were ineligible for the awards. The deadline for submissions was 17 January 2012.
The Feature Film category received 186 entries in 19 languages, marking the highest number of submissions in the history of the National Film Awards, as of 2011. A total of 156 entries were received in the Non-Feature Films category along with 28 books and 22 articles which were submitted for the Best Writing in Cinema.
Awards The National Film Awards are grouped into three sections: Feature Films, Non-Feature Films and Writing on Cinema. On 7 March 2012, in a press conference held at Shastri Bhavan, New Delhi, the winners for the 2012 award ceremony were announced. A lifetime achievement award, named after Dadasaheb Phalke, was awarded to a film personality for an outstanding contribution to the Indian Cinema. The winners were awarded a medallion, a cash prize and a certificate of merit.
Dadasaheb Phalke Award
Introduced in 1969, the Dadasaheb Phalke Award is the highest award given to recognise the contributions of film personalities towards the development of Indian cinema and for distinguished contributions to the medium, its growth and promotion. A committee consisting of five personalities from the Indian film industry was appointed to evaluate the Dadasaheb Phalke award nominations for 2011. Following were the jury members:
Shyam BenegalGirish KasaravalliSaeed Akhtar MirzaRamesh SippyV. K. Murthy
The Dadasaheb Phalke award for 2011 was announced on 23 March 2012. Actor Soumitra Chatterjee won the award for his contribution to Indian cinema, predominantly in Bengali cinema. Chatterjee was a regular in Satyajit Ray films, and worked with other notable directors such as Mrinal Sen and Tapan Sinha in a career lasting over 50 years.
Name of AwardImageAwardee(s)Awarded AsAwardsDadasaheb Phalke Award Soumitra ChatterjeeActorSwarna Kamal, and a Shawl
Feature films Feature films were awarded at national and regional levels. A Marathi film, Deool and a Beary film, Byari, shared the National Film Award for Best Feature Film. Deool became the third Marathi film to win the honour after Shyamchi Aai (1953) and Shwaas (2003). The film's author and lead actor, Girish Kulkarni, won the awards for Best Actor and Best Dialogues. Byari is the first feature film ever made in the Beary language. In this section, 24 films won awards, and six films, including Deool, the Punjabi film Anhe Ghore Da Daan, another Marathi film Balgandharva, a Bengali film Ranjana Ami Ar Ashbona and two Hindi films Chillar Party and The Dirty Picture, won three awards each.
Jury
For the Feature Film section, six committees were formed based on the different geographic regions in India. The two-tier evaluation process included a central committee and five regional committees. The central committee, headed by the actor Rohini Hattangadi, included the heads of each regional committee and five other jury members. At regional level, each committee consisted of one chief and four members. The chief and one non-chief member of each regional committee were selected from outside that geographic region. The table below names the jury members for the central and regional committees:
Central Jury
Rohini Hattangadi (Chairperson) K. Hariharan K. P. Kumaran Vinay Shukla Aloknanda Roy A. S. Kanal Latika Padgaonkar Prakash Belawadi Hiren Bora Kishwar Desai Ranjani Mazumdar
Northern Region:
K. Hariharan (Head)Amrik Gill Ayesha Sayani K. Bikram Singh Shyamal Karmakar
Eastern Region:
K. P. Kumaran (Head)Satarupa Sanyal Dilip Patnaik Bhagirathi Ganesh Matkari
Western Region:
Vinay Shukla (Head)Pandhari Juker Kanchan Nayak Hemendra Chaya Banwari Taneja
Southern Region I:
Aloknanda Roy (Head)Sashi Paravoor T. G. Thyagarajan S. P. Jananathan Bela Negi
Southern Region II:
A. S. Kanal (Head)Umashanker Swamy P. H. Vishwanath K. Satyanarayana Ratnottama Sengupta
All India Awards
At the national level, feature films competed in 29 categories. The Swarna Kamal (Golden Lotus Award) was awarded in five categories, the Rajat Kamal (Silver Lotus Award) in the rest. In this edition, the Golden Lotus Award for the Best Animation Film and eight Silver Lotus Awards were not announced. The awards given were as follows:
Golden Lotus Award All the winners were awarded with a Swarna Kamal (Golden Lotus Award), a certificate and a cash prize.
Name of AwardName of Film(s)LanguageAwardee(s)Cash prizeBest Feature Film Deool Marathi Producer: Abhijit GholapDirector: Umesh Vinayak Kulkarni Byari BearyProducer: T. H. Althaf HussainDirector: SuveeranBest Debut Film of a DirectorAaranya KaandamTamilProducer: S. P. B. CharanDirector: Thiagarajan KumararajaBest Popular Film Providing Wholesome EntertainmentAzhagarsamiyin KuthiraiTamilProducer: P. MadhanDirector: SuseenthiranBest Children's FilmChillar PartyHindiProducer: UTV Software Communications, Salman KhanDirector: Vikas Bahl and Nitesh TiwariBest DirectionAnhe Ghore Da DaanPunjabiGurvinder Singh
Silver Lotus Award
All the winners were awarded with a Rajat Kamal (Silver Lotus Award), a certificate and a cash prize.
Name of AwardName of Film(s)Language(s)Awardee(s)Cash prizeBest ActorDeoolMarathiGirish KulkarniBest ActressThe Dirty PictureHindiVidya BalanBest Supporting ActorAzhagarsamiyin KuthiraiTamilAppukuttyBest Supporting ActressPhijigee ManiManipuriLeishangthem Tonthoingambi DeviBest Child ArtistStanley Ka DabbaHindiPartho GupteChillar PartyHindiIrrfan KhanSanath MenonRohan GroverNaman JainAarav KhannaVishesh TiwariChinmai ChandranshuhVedant DesaiDivij HandaShriya SharmaBest Male Playback SingerBalgandharvaMarathiAnand BhateBest Female Playback SingerAboshesheyBengaliRoopa GangulyBest CinematographyAnhe Ghore Da DaanPunjabiCameraman: Satya Rai NagpaulLaboratory Processing: Reliance MediaWorksBest ScreenplayChillar PartyHindiVikas BahlNitesh TiwariVijay MauryaBest ScreenplayShalaMarathiAvinash Deshpande NigdiBest ScreenplayDeoolMarathiGirish KulkarniBest AudiographyZindagi Na Milegi DobaraHindiBaylon FonsecaBest AudiographyGameHindiBaylon FonsecaBest AudiographyGameHindiHitendra GhoshBest EditingAaranya KaandamTamilPraveen K. L.N. B. SrikanthBest Art DirectionNoukadubiBengaliIndraneel GhoshBest Costume DesignBalgandharvaMarathiNeeta LullaThe Dirty PictureHindiNiharika KhanBest Make-up ArtistBalgandharvaMarathiVikram GaikwadThe Dirty PictureHindiBest Music DirectionRanjana Ami Ar AshbonaBengaliNeel DuttBest Music DirectionLaptopBengaliMayookh BhaumikBest LyricsI AmHindiAmitabh BhattacharyaBest Special EffectsRa.OneHindiHarry HingoraniKeitan Yadav (Red Chillies VFX)Best ChoreographyZindagi Na Milegi DobaraHindiBosco-CaesarSpecial Jury AwardRanjana Ami Ar AshbonaBengaliAnjan Dutt (Actor, Singer, Writer, Director)Special MentionByariBearyMallika (Actress)Certificate onlyAdimadhyanthamMalayalamSherrey (Director)
Regional Awards
National Film Awards are also given to the best films in the regional languages of India. Awards for the regional languages are categorised as per their mention in the Eighth schedule of the Constitution of India. Awardees included producers and directors of the film. No films in languages other than those specified in the Schedule VIII of the Constitution were eligible.
All the winners were awarded with Rajat Kamal (Silver Lotus Award), a certificate and cash prize. Following were the awards given:
Name of AwardName of FilmAwardee(s)Cash prizeProducer(s)DirectorBest Feature Film in BengaliRanjana Ami Ar AshbonaRana SarkarAnjan DuttBest Feature Film in DogriDille Ch Vasya KoiSanjeev RattanSanjeev RattanBest Feature Film in HindiI AmOnirSanjay SuriOnirBest Feature Film in KannadaKoormavataraBasant Kumar PatilGirish KasaravalliBest Feature Film in MalayalamIndian RupeeAugust Cinema India Pvt. Ltd.RanjithBest Feature Film in ManipuriPhijigee ManiTakhelchangbam Ongbi Medha SharmiOinam Gautam SinghBest Feature Film in MarathiShalaVivek WaghNilesh NavalkarSujay DahakeBest Feature Film in PunjabiAnhe Ghore Da DaanNFDCGurvinder SinghBest Feature Film in TamilVaagai Sooda VaaS. MuruganandhamA. Sarkunam
Non-Feature Films
In the Non-Feature Film section, 21 films won awards. Three films—Panchakki, There is Something in the Air and Tiger Dynasty—won three awards each. There is Something in the Air also won the award for best direction—one of the Golden Lotus awards for Non-Feature Films. Three Silver Lotus Awards from Non-Feature Films section were not awarded.
Jury A committee of seven, headed by director Romesh Sharma, was appointed to evaluate the Non-Feature Films entries. The jury members were:
Romesh Sharma (Chairperson) Brahmanand Singh Supriyo Sen Suresh Kohli Sameer Hanchate Haobam Paban Kumar Gouri Patwardhan
Golden Lotus Award All the winners were awarded with the Swarna Kamal (Golden Lotus Award), a certificate and cash prize.
Name of AwardName of Film(s)Language(s)Awardee(s)Cash prizeBest Non-Feature FilmAnd We Play OnHindiEnglishProducer: Pramod PurswaneDirector: Pramod PurswaneBest Non-Feature Film DirectionThere is Something in the AirHindiUrduEnglishIram Ghufran
Silver Lotus Award
All the winners were awarded with Rajat Kamal (Silver Lotus Award) and cash prize.