The 61st National Film Awards ceremony was an event during which the Directorate of Film Festivals of India presented its annual National Film Awards to honour the best films of 2013 in Indian cinema. The ceremony was held on 3 May 2014.
Selection process
The Directorate of Film Festivals invited nominations for the awards on 24 January 2014. The acceptable last date for entries was until 14 February 2014. Feature and Non-Feature Films certified by the Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC) between 1 January 2013, and 31 December 2013, were eligible for the film award categories. Books, critical studies, reviews or articles on cinema published in Indian newspapers, magazines, and journals between 1 January 2013, and 31 December 2013, were eligible for the best writing on cinema section. Entries of dubbed, revised or copied versions of a film or translation, abridgements, edited or annotated works and reprints were ineligible for the awards.
For the Feature and Non-Feature Films sections, films in any Indian language, shot on 16 mm, 35 mm, a wider film gauge or a digital format, and released in cinemas, on video or digital formats for home viewing were eligible. Films were required to be certified as a feature film, a featurette or a Documentary/Newsreel/Non-Fiction by the CBFC.
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 seven personalities from the Indian film industry was appointed to evaluate the Dadasaheb Phalke award nominations for 2013. Following were the jury members:
Jury Members Adoor Gopalakrishnan Amjad Ali Khan B. Saroja Devi D. Ramanaidu Pratibha Prahlad Ramesh Sippy Sharmistha Mukherjee
For the year 2013, the award was announced on 12 April 2014 to be presented to Gulzar, a veteran poet, lyric writer and film director. He has won five National Film Awards, 20 Filmfare Awards, one Academy Award, one Grammy Award and was also a Padma Bhushan recipient in 2004.
Name of AwardImageAwardee(s)Awarded AsAwardsDadasaheb Phalke Award Gulzar Poet, Lyricist and Film directorSwarna Kamal, and a Shawl
Feature films A Bengali film, Jaatishwar won the maximum number of awards (4) followed by Telugu film Na Bangaaru Talli, Tamil film Thanga Meenkal and Marathi film Yellow (3 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 Saeed Akhtar Mirza, 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
Saeed Akhtar Mirza (chairperson)M. S. SathyuManju BorahChitraarth Puran SinghNirad Mohapatra Thangar Bachan Arunoday Sharma Khalid MohamedUtpalendu Chakrabarty Pandit Bhajan Sopori C. V. Reddy
Northern Region:
Manju Borah (chair)Virendra SainiG. S. BhaskarBhanu BhartiSona Jain
Eastern Region:
M. S. Sathyu (chair)Meena DebbarmaRanjit Das Sreelekha Mukherji Beena Paul
Western Region:
Chitraarth Puran Singh (chair)Rajat DholakiaMeenakshi SheddeRajen BorahTejaswini Pandit
Southern Region I:
Nirad Mohapatra (chair)Unni VijayanKesari HarvooPriya KrishnaswamyArun Bose
Southern Region II:
Thangar Bachan (chair)M. Manu ChakravarthyB. S. LingadevaruJoseph PulinthanathChandra Siddhartha
All India Awards
Golden Lotus Award All the winners are 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 FilmShip of TheseusEnglish,HindiProducer: Recyclewala Films Pvt LtdDirector: Anand Gandhi Best Debut Film of a DirectorFandry MarathiProducer: Navalakha Arts and Holy Basil CombineDirector: Nagraj Manjule Best Popular Film Providing Wholesome EntertainmentBhaag Milkha BhaagHindiProducer: Viacom 18 Motion Pictures and ROMP PicturesDirector: Rakeysh Omprakash Mehra Best Children's FilmKaphalHindiProducer: Children's Film Society of IndiaDirector: Batul MukhtiarBest Direction Shahid Hindi Hansal Mehta
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 Feature Film on National IntegrationThalaimuraigalTamilProducer: Company Productions Director: Balu MahendraBest Film on Other Social IssuesTuhya Dharma KonchaMarathiProducer: Indian Magic Eye Motion Pictures Pvt Ltd.Director: Satish ManwarBest Film on Environment Conservation/PreservationPerariyathavarMalayalamProducer: Ambalakkara Global FilmsDirector: Dr. BijuBest ActorShahidHindiRajkumar Rao PerariyathavarMalayalamSuraj VenjaramooduBest ActressLiar's DiceHindiGeetanjali Thapa Best Supporting ActorJolly LLBHindiSaurabh ShuklaBest Supporting ActressAstuMarathiAmruta Subhash Ship Of TheseusEnglish-HindiAida El-KashefBest Child ArtistFandryMarathiSomnath Awghade Thanga MeenkalTamilBaby SadhanaBest Male Playback SingerJaatishwarBengaliRupankar BagchiBest Female Playback SingerTuhya Dharma KonchaMarathiBela ShendeBest CinematographyLiar's DiceHindiRajeev RaviBest ScreenplayDecember-1KannadaP. SheshadriBest ScreenplayPrakrutiKannadaPanchakshariBest ScreenplayAstuMarathiSumitra BhaveBest AudiographyMadras CafeHindiNihar Ranjan SamalBest AudiographyMadras CafeHindiBishwadeep ChatterjeeBest AudiographySwapaanamMalayalamD. YuvarajBest EditingVallinamTamilV. J. Sabu JosephBest Art DirectionMiss LovelyHindiAshim AhluwaliaTabasheer ZutshiParichit ParalkarBest Costume DesignJaatishwarBengaliSabarni Das Best Make-up ArtistJaatishwarBengaliVikram Gaikwad Best Music DirectionJaatishwarBengaliKabir SumanBest Music DirectionNa Bangaaru TalliTeluguShantanu MoitraBest LyricsThanga MeenkalTamilNa. MuthukumarBest Special EffectsJalHindiIntermezzo Studio Alien Sense Films Pvt LtdBest ChoreographyBhaag Milkha BhaagHindiGanesh AcharyaSpecial Jury AwardYellowMarathiProducer: Viva In EnDirector: Mahesh LimayeMiss LovelyHindiProducer: Future East Film Pvt LtdDirector: Ashim AhluwaliaSpecial MentionYellowMarathiGauri Gadgil (Child actor)Certificate onlyYellowMarathiSanjana Rai (Child actor)Na Bangaaru TalliTeluguAnjali Patil (Actress)
Regional Award
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.
Name of AwardName of FilmAwardee(s)Cash prizeProducer(s)DirectorBest Feature Film in AssameseAjeyoShiven ArtsJahnu Barua eachBest Feature Film in BengaliBakita ByaktigatoTripod Entertainment Pvt LtdPradipta Bhattacharyya eachBest Feature Film in HindiJolly LLBFox Star StudiosSubhash Kapoor eachBest Feature Film in KannadaDecember-1Basant ProductionsP. Sheshadri eachBest Feature Film in KonkaniBaga BeachSharvani ProductionsLaxmikant Shetgaonkar eachBest Feature Film in MalayalamNorth 24 KaathamSurya Cine ArtsAnil Radhakrishnan Menon eachBest Feature Film in MarathiAajcha Divas MajhaWhite Swan ProductionsChandrakant Kulkarni eachBest Feature Film in TamilThanga MeenkalJSK Film CorporationRam eachBest Feature Film in TeluguNa Bangaaru TalliSun Touch ProductionsRajesh Touchriver each
Best Feature Film in Each of the Language Other Than Those Specified In the Schedule VIII of the Constitution
Name of AwardName of FilmAwardee(s)Cash prizeProducerDirectorBest Feature Film in EnglishThe Coffin MakerShree Narayan StudioVeena Bakshi each Best Feature Film in KhasiRiKurbah FilmsPradip Kurbah each Best Feature Film in SherdukpenCrossing BridgesTNT Films ProductionSange Dorjee Thongdok each
Non-Feature Films
Jury A committee of seven headed by chair Ashoke Viswanathan was appointed to evaluate the Non-Feature Films entries. The jury members were:
Ashoke Viswanathan (chairperson) Bishnu Dev Halder S. ManjunathanUmesh AggarwalReena MohanSandeep MarwahRamesh Asher
Golden Lotus Award All 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 FilmRangbhoomiHindiProducer: Films DivisionDirector: Kamal SwaroopBest Non-Feature Film DirectionChidiya UdhPranjal Dua
Silver Lotus Award
All the winners were awarded with the Rajat Kamal (Silver Lotus Award) and cash prize.
Name of AwardName of Film(s)Language(s)Awardee(s)Cash prizeBest First Non-Feature FilmKanyakaMalayalamProducer: Satyajit Ray Film and Television InstituteDirector: Christo Tomy eachBest Biographical Film / Best Historical Reconstruction FilmThe Last AdieuEnglishProducer: Films DivisionDirector: Shabnam Sukhdev eachBest Educational FilmThe Quantum IndiansEnglishProducer: Public Service Broadcasting TrustDirector: Raja Choudhury eachBest Environment Film Including AgricultureForesting LifeHindi-AssameseProducer: A Media For Social ImpactDirector: Aarti Shrivastava eachBest Arts / Cultural FilmThe Lost BehrupiyaHindiProducer: Holybull Entertainment LLPDirector: Sriram Dalton eachO Friend, This Waiting!English-TeluguProducer: Justin McCarthyDirector: Sandhya Kumar and Justin McCarthyBest Promotional FilmChasing The RainbowEnglishProducer: Edumedia IndiaDirector: Charu Shree Roy eachKushHindiProducer: Red Carpet Moving Pictures Pvt. Ltd.Director: Shubhashish BhutianiBest Science and Technology FilmThe Pad PiperEnglishProducer: Akanksha Sood SinghDirector: Akanksha Sood SinghBest Film on Social IssuesGulabi GangHindi-BundelkhandiProducer: Raintree Films, Piraya Film As and Final Cut for Real ApsDirector: Nishtha Jain eachBest Investigative FilmKatiyabaazHindi-Urdu-EnglishProducer: Globalistan Films Pvt. Ltd.Director: Deepti Kakkar and Fahad Mustafa eachBest Short Fiction FilmMandrake ! Mandrake !HindiProducer: FTIIDirector: Ruchir Arun eachBest Film on Family WelfareHeyro PartyBengaliProducer: Baishakhi Banerjee and Deepak GawadeDirector: Deepak Gawade eachBest CinematographyMandrake ! Mandrake !HindiCameraman: Kavin JagtianiLab: Reliance MediaWorksBest AudiographyChidiya UdhGautam NairBest EditingGulabi GangHindi-BundelkhandiArjun GourisariaBest Music DirectionYugadrashtaAssameseAnurag SaikiaBest Narration / Voice OverKankee O SaapoOriyaLipika Singh DaraiSpecial Jury AwardAnanthamurthy – Not A Biography...But A HypothesisEnglishGirish Kasaravalli (Director)TamaashKashmiriSatyanshu Singh and Devanshu Singh (Director)Special MentionAccsexEnglish-HindiShweta Ghosh (Director) Certificate onlyCandles In The WindPunjabi-Hindi (Director)Kavita Bahl and Nandan SaxenaDharmamTamilMadonne M. Ashwin (Director)At the Cross Roads: Nondon Bagchi Life and LivingEnglish-BengaliRajdeep Paul and Sarmistha Maiti (Director)
Best Writing on Cinema
Jury A committee of three, headed by Sharad Dutt was appointed to evaluate the nominations for the best writing on Indian cinema. The jury members were as follows:
Sharad Dutt (chairperson) Ganesh Anantharamna Balaji Vittal
The Best Writing on Cinema awards are intended to encourage the study and appreciation of cinema as an art form and the dissemination of information and critical appreciation of the medium through books, articles, reviews etc.
Golden Lotus Award
All the winners were awarded with the Swarna Kamal (Golden Lotus Award), cash prize and a certificate.