New Delhi : The 71st National Film Awards were announced in New Delhi on Thursday evening, honouring excellence across Indian cinema. The Hindi film 12th Fail was declared the Best Feature Film, receiving widespread recognition for its impactful storytelling.
Chairman of the Feature Film Jury, filmmaker Ashutosh Gowariker, announced that Shah Rukh Khan and Vikrant Massey have jointly won the Best Actor award for their performances in Jawan and 12th Fail respectively. Actress Rani Mukerji was honoured with the Best Actress award for her powerful role in Mrs. Chatterjee Vs Norway.
In the non-feature film category, Jury Chairman P. Sheshadri announced that Flowering Man, directed by Soumyajit Ghosh Dastidar, was named Best Non-Feature Film. Piyush Thakur won the award for Best Direction in this category, while the documentary God, Vulture and Human was awarded Best Documentary.
Karan Johar’s Rocky Aur Rani Kii Prem Kahaani was awarded Best Popular Film for Wholesome Entertainment. Meghna Gulzar’s Sam Bahadur received the award for Best Feature Film promoting national, social, and environmental values.
In the music category, G.V. Prakash Kumar won Best Music Direction for the Tamil film Vaathi. Shilpa Rao and PVN S Rohit received the Best Playback Singer awards for their performances in the Hindi film Jawan and Telugu film Baby, respectively.
Other winners include the Malayalam film Pookalam for Best Editing, the Marathi film Naal 2 as Best Children’s Film, and The Kerala Story for Best Cinematography. Veteran film critic Utpal Dutta was awarded Best Film Critic.
The awards this year reflect the diversity and richness of Indian cinema, highlighting powerful performances, meaningful storytelling, and technical brilliance across regional and mainstream films.
