The 46th 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 1998. Ceremony took place on 15 February 2000 and awards were given by then President of India, K. R. Narayanan.
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 AwardB. R. Chopradirector and producerSwarna Kamal, and a Shawl
Feature films
Feature films were awarded at All India as well as regional level. For 46th National Film Awards, a Hindi film, Samar won the National Film Award for Best Feature Film, whereas another Hindi film, Godmother won the maximum number of awards (6). Following were the awards given in each category:
Juries
A committee headed by D. V. S. Raju was appointed to evaluate the feature films awards. Following were the jury members:
Jury Members D. V. S. Raju (Chairperson)Mirnmoy ChakrabortyNachiket PatwardhanAruna VasudevRamesh SippyB. Narsing RaoSuresh HeblikarRanjan BoseBhawana SomaayaChitraarthGautam BoraSumitra BhaveBhaskar ChandavarkarVennira Aadai NirmalaBalachandra MenonJ. L. RalhanAli Peter John
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 FilmSamarHindiProducer: Shyam Benegal, Sahyadri Films and NFDCdirector: Shyam Benegal 50,000/- EachCitation: For the innovative and human manner in which the director structures and presents a continuing social evil.Best Debut Film of a DirectorDayaMalayalamProducer: C. K. GopinathDirector: Venu 25,000/- EachCitation: For its depiction of a delightful fairy-tale-like theme lending exotic sophistication and colour to the unique mosaic of creativity, imagination and style.Best Popular Film Providing Wholesome EntertainmentKuch Kuch Hota HaiHindiProducer: Yash JoharDirector: Karan Johar 40,000/- EachCitation: For the irresistible charm and universal appeal of its story, music, dance and performances.Best Children's FilmKabhi Pass Kabhi FailHindiProducer: N'CYPDirector: Virendra Saini 30,000/- EachCitation: For weaving an enchanting tale that can be enjoyed by children of all ages and drawing memorable performances from its large cast of characters.Best DirectionJananiMalayalamRajeevnath 50,000/-Citation: For a warmly compassionate film where subject and treatment are in perfect harmony.
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 IntegrationZakhmHindiProducer: Pooja BhattDirector: Mahesh Bhatt 30,000/- EachCitation: For boldly dealing with social and religious strife, communal tensions, violence and disharmony in contemporary times. The film has a message of love and peace that is conveyed in a sensitive way.Best Film on Family WelfareAtmiyo SwajanBengaliProducer: Dhatri FilmsDirector: Raja Sen 30,000/- EachCitation: For vividly portraying emotional and moral problems faced by an extended family wearing a rich tapestry of relationships, the film brings forth hope for the aged and celebrates life for the young.Best Film on Other Social IssuesChinthavishtayaya ShyamalaMalayalamProducer: C. KarunakaranDirector: Sreenivasan 30,000/- EachCitation: For its strong theme of a woman's struggle against relentless difficulties heaped upon her by her worthless husband. Her ultimate success and emancipation prove to be socially inspiring.Best Film on Environment / Conservation / PreservationMalliTamilProducer: N'CYPDirector: Santosh Sivan 30,000/- EachCitation: For its lucid and lyrical depiction of nature and the need to save the environmental assets which have made life on tris earth possible and beautiful.Best ActorZakhmHindiAjay Devgn 10,000/- EachCitation: For his restrained and moving performance of an angry man exasperated with the failing system.Dr. Babasaheb AmbedkarEnglishMammoottyCitation: For bringing to life a great national figure in a strong and memorable performance spanning several decades across three continents.Best ActressGodmotherHindiShabana Azmi 10,000/-Citation: For her dramatic and passionate portrayal of a woman forced to fight in a man's world. The actress lends a rare intensity and dignity to her portrayal as the victim forced to take the law into her hands she projects a wide range of intricate and complek emotions with ease and sincerity. Shabana Azmi flawlessly weaves expression, voice and body language and comes up with one of her most memorable performances to date.Best Supporting ActorSatyaHindiManoj Bajpai 10,000/-Citation: For his flawless performance of the eccentric underworld figure trapped in a system, cold blooded yet vulnerable at the same time.Best Supporting ActressHu Tu TuHindiSuhasini Mulay 10,000/-Citation: For bringing alive negative personality without losing her human face. She acts with conviction and comes up with a powerful performance.Best Child ArtistMalliTamilP. Shwetha 10,000/-Citation: For her infectious and vibrant performance of a young child's pure bonding with nature and her trauma at the decadence in environment.Best Male Playback SingerGodmotherHindiSanjeev Abhyankar 10,000/-Citation: For the song in which he successfully blends folk, bhajan and popular music to communicate the lyrics effectively.Best Female Playback SingerKuch Kuch Hota HaiHindiAlka Yagnik 10,000/-Citation: Her rendering of this theme song brings out the different moods and emotion and adds greatly to the impact of the film.Best CinematographyDil Se..HindiCameraman: Santosh SivanLaboratory Processing: Gemini Color Lab, Madras 10,000/- EachCitation: His camera travels across spectacular landscapes and architecture and through bustling humanity with great seductive charm, colours and moods are created with equal ease in a film which sets a high standard of cinematic perfection.Best ScreenplaySamarHindiAshok Mishra 10,000/-Citation: For Hindi film Samar where he has used a unique structure to ekplore the complek contradictions of urban/rural, rich/poor, pcwerful/dcwntrodden in a simple story line laced with poignant Moments of humour and irony for a perceptive insight into contemporary indian life.Best AudiographyDil Se..HindiH. Sridhar 10,000/-Citation: For capturing sounds as varied as the visuals and creating an unusual rhytham on the sound track.Best EditingGodmotherHindiRenu Saluja 10,000/-Citation: For her smart slick and innovative editing adds an artistic touch to the film. her pacing of the cuts enhance the emotions and sound overlaps lend a remarkable lucidity to the narration.Best Art DirectionDr. Babasaheb AmbedkarEnglishNitin Chandrakant Desai 10,000/-Citation: The film covers a large time span from the pre-electricity age to post independence India. The scene, both indoor and outdoor move effortlessly around rural, urban, Indian and foreign locales and blur the distinction between sets and locations – with the aid of faultless camerawork, the art direction almost single handedly creates the entire period mood and feel of the film.Best Costume DesignDayaMalayalamS. B. Satheesan 10,000/-Citation: For a fantasy without any concrete reference to known periods, locales or styles – the film achieves a high quality design integrity. The use of fabrics, weaves and prints are superbly executed and leave a lasting impression.Best Music DirectionGodmotherHindiVishal Bhardwaj 10,000/-Citation: For the Hindi film Godmother where the narrative of the film and the music bring about an excellent blend of folk and modern music. It retains the fragrance of the soil of Gujarat.Best LyricsGodmotherHindiJaved Akhtar 10,000/-Citation: For the authentic blend of dialect and emotion. a song of patriotism and passion, the lyrics are lucid and thought provoking.Best Special EffectsJeansTamilS. T. Venki 10,000/-Citation: For his extremely innovative and spectacular special effects created on computor. The animation of the twin characters is fascinating and intriguing.Best ChoreographyDayaMalayalamBrinda 10,000/-Citation: For the spirited and novel adaptation of an Arabic dance.Special Jury AwardKichhhu Sanlap Kichhu PralapBengaliDrishyakavya (Producer)Ashoke Viswanathan (Director) 12,500/- EachCitation: The film is extra-ordinary in its experimental effort and works as a satire on our value system dominated by the pseudo intellectuals.Special MentionKante Koothurne KanuTeluguDasari Narayana Rao (Producer and Director)Certificate OnlyCitation: For taking a stand on gender discrimination.AnthapuramTeluguPrakash Raj (Actor)Citation: For his wholesome performance of the obsessive feudal lord still, living in medieval times.Kannezhuthi Pottum ThottuMalayalamManju Warrier (Actress)Citation: For her subdued and consistence performance in several films entered for the awards.
Regional Awards
The award is given to best film in the regional languages in India.