Article 370 Sweeps National Film Awards

By Pickle  July 20, 2026

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By Pickle News Network

Yami Gautam wins Best Actress, Randeep Hooda takes debut director, blockbusters share honours with regional cinema across languages.

The 72nd National Film Awards for 2024, announced by the Ministry of Information & Broadcasting, saw Aditya Suhas Jambhale’s political thriller Article 370 emerge as the biggest single winner, taking Best Feature Film, Best Actress for Yami Gautam and Best Music Direction (Songs) for Shashwat Sachdev. Produced by Jio Studios and B62 Studios, the film — currently streaming on Netflix — dramatises the 2019 revocation of Jammu and Kashmir’s special status. Yami Gautam, in her first National Award after 14 years in cinema, wrote on X: “Every journey has a moment that reminds you why you never gave up. Today is that moment for me”. Producer Aditya Dhar credited Jambhale, “whose vision and conviction shaped every frame”.

The Best Debut Film of a Director honour went to Randeep Hooda for Swatantrya Veer Savarkar, his passion project on the freedom fighter, streaming on ZEE5. “I gave this film all I had,” Hooda said, calling it the toughest film of his career. The Best Popular Film Providing Wholesome Entertainment was Nag Ashwin Singireddy’s Telugu sci-fi epic Kalki 2898 AD (Vyjayanthi Movies), on Netflix in Hindi and Amazon Prime Video in Telugu, Tamil, Malayalam and Kannada. The Best Feature Film Promoting National, Social and Environmental Values was Arun Matheswaran’s Tamil period-action Captain Miller (Sathya Jyothi Films), on Amazon Prime Video. The Best Children’s Film was Nanda Kishore Emani’s Telugu drama 35 – Chinna Katha Kaadu (S Originals and Waltair Productions).

The Best Direction Swarna Kamal was awarded to Rajkumar Periasamy for the Tamil war biopic Amaran on Major Mukund Varadarajan, streaming on Netflix. The Best Actor trophy was shared by Malayalam superstar Mammootty for the black-and-white folk horror Bramayugam, on Sony LIV, and Kartik Aaryan for the Paralympian Murlikant Petkar biopic Chandu Champion, on Amazon Prime Video. Best Supporting Actor went to Sanjay Mishra for Bhakshak (Netflix). The Best Supporting Actress award was shared between Sachana Namidass for the Tamil neo-noir Maharaja, on Netflix, and Ropashree Varkady for the Kannada film Mithya. Best Child Artist was shared by Athish S Shetty, Arundev Pothula, and the ensemble of Riddhiman Banerjee, Tapomoy Deb and Gitashree Chakraborty for the Bengali film Onko Ki Kothin.

In music, Best Male Playback Singer went to Abhay Jodhpurkar for Navasachi Gauri Mazi from the Marathi film Gharat Ganpati, and Best Female Playback Singer to Vaikom Vijayalakshmi for Angu Vaana Konilu from the Malayalam film A. R. M. Best Music Direction was split between Shashwat Sachdev (Songs, Article 370) and G. V. Prakash Kumar (Background Score, Amaran). Best Lyrics went to Manoj Muntashir for Jaane Do from Amit Sharma’s Maidaan, on Amazon Prime Video. Best Choreography was won by Vijay Ganguly for Aaj Ki Raat from Stree 2, on Amazon Prime Video.

The craft trophies were dominated by Tamil and Telugu cinema. Best Cinematography went to Shehnad Jalal. Best Screenplay (Original) went to Sukumar Bandreddi for Pushpa: The Rule – Part 02, on Netflix, while Best Adapted Screenplay went to Yogesh Deshpande for the Marathi biopic Swargandharva Sudhir Phadke, and Best Dialogue Writer to Venky Atluri for the Telugu heist Lucky Baskhar (Netflix). Best Sound Design went to Manas Choudhury for Bhool Bhulaiyaa 3, on Netflix. Best Editing went to R. Kalaivannan for Amaran. Best Production Design went to Nitin Zihani Choudhary. Best Costume Design went to Deepali Noor and Sheetal Sharma for Pushpa: The Rule – Part 02. Best Make-up went to P. Ravi Kumar for the Telugu film Committee Kurrollu. Best Action Direction (Stunt Choreography) went to Anl Arasu for Maharaja.

Language honours drew from the length of the country. Best Assamese Film: Jadumoni Dutta’s Juiphool. Best Bengali Film: Anjan Dutt’s Chalchitra Ekhon. Best Gujarati Film: Abhishek Jain’s Maaran. Best Hindi Film: Tushar Hiranandani’s Srikanth, a biopic of visually impaired industrialist Srikanth Bolla, on Netflix. Best Kannada Film: Sumanth Bhat’s Mithya. Best Konkani Film: Mog Asum, co-directed by Radheshyam Pipalwa and Agnelo Braganza. Best Malayalam Film: Fasil Muhammed’s Feminichi Fathima. Best Manipuri Film: Yumnam Ajit Singh’s Sunita. Best Marathi Film: Paresh Mokashi’s Mukkam Post Bombilwadi. Best Odia Film: Amartya Bhattacharyya’s Lahari. Best Tamil Film: Dhanush’s directorial Raayan (Sun TV Network). Best Telugu Film: Yadhu Vamsee’s title from Pink Elephant Pictures and Shree Radha Damodara Studios.

Outside Schedule VIII, Best Garhwali Film went to Dinesh P. Bhonsle’s Dholi, and Best Tulu Film to Shivadhwaj Shetty’s IMBU. Special Mention certificates were awarded to Dhanush for his performance in Captain Miller and to film-sound-mix engineer Suren G. for the Tamil film Meiyazhagan, on Netflix.

The Feature Film Jury was chaired by filmmaker Jayaraj, with Om Raut, Aseem Bajaj, Priya Krishnaswamy, Rakesh Ranjan, Napoleon RZ Thanga, Meerra Chopraa, Sreelekha Mukherji, Archana Udupa, V. N. Aditya and G. Kala on the central panel, alongside regional East, North, South-I, South-II and West panels.