Names of Indira Gandhi, Nargis Dutt dropped from National Film Awards categories

Names of Indira Gandhi and Nargis Duttwill no longer be used in specific National Film Award categories they have been associated with for the longest time. According to a new notification issued by a committee set up by the Information and Broadcasting Ministry, these categories have gotten a rejig to rationalise the honours given in different categories.

Among the major changes, the 'Indira Gandhi Award for Best Debut Film' and the 'Nargis Dutt Award for Best Feature Film on National Integration' have been retitled. Other changes include upward revision in the cash rewards, including for the Dadasaheb Phalke award, and several awards being fused.

All changes in National Film Awards

According to the changes, the ‘'Indira Gandhi Award for Best Debut Film of a Director' has been renamed 'Best Debut Film of a Director'. The prize money, which was earlier split between the producer and the director, will now only go to the director.

As for the 'Nargis Dutt Award for Best Feature Film on National Integration', it will now be called the 'Best feature film promoting national, social and environmental values'. This category also merges award sections for social issues and environment conservation into one.

The monetary reward for the Dadasaheb Phalke Award, which is presented every year to an Indian film personality for their outstanding contribution to Indian cinema, has been increased from Rs 10 lakh to Rs 15 lakh. The prize money for the Swarn Kamal awards has been increased to Rs 3 lakh and Rs 2 lakh for Rajat Kamal winners across categories. Earlier, the award money varied from category to category.

Swarn Kamal is given in these categories -- best film, debut film, film providing wholesome entertainment, direction and children's film.

Rajat Kamal is given to winners of best feature film promoting national, social and environmental values, all the acting categories, best screenplay, music and other such categories.

In another notable change, the award for 'best animation film' and 'best special effects' have been clubbed under a new category named "best AVGC (animation, visual effects, gaming and comics) film" with two sub-categories.

The 'best audiography' category, which had three sub-categories honouring location sound recordist, sound designer and recordist of the final mixed track, will now be known as best sound design. The prize money, which has been raised to Rs 2 lakh from Rs 50,000, will be awarded to the sound designer.

The best music direction category will now be called 'best background music'.

A special jury award has been discontinued but the jury has sole discretion to award two special mentions in the feature film and non-feature film categories of the National Film Awards.

In the non-feature film category, some segments have been discontinued while others have been merged and a new category for best script has been introduced.

The segments of best anthropological/ethnographic film, best science and technology film, best promotional film, best environmental film including agriculture, best film on social issues, best educational film, best exploration/adventure film and best investigative films have been merged to create two segments: best documentary and best non-feature film promoting social and environmental issues.

Best film on family values as well as special jury awards have been discontinued in the non-feature category.

A committee set by Ministry of Information & Broadcasting suggested these changes

The rationalisation committee which suggested the changes was headed by Neerja Sekhar, additional secretary in the I&B ministry. It included filmmakers Priyadarshan, Vipul Shah, Haobam Paban Kumar, Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC) chief Prasoon Joshi, cinematographer S Nallamuthu as well as I&B joint secretary Prithul Kumar and the ministry’s director (finance) Kamlesh Kumar Sinha.

A member of the committee told PTI, "The committee deliberated on the changes during the pandemic. The decision to make these changes was ultimately unanimous.”

Entries for the National Awards for 2022 closed on January 30. The awards are running a year late because of the pandemic with the National Awards for 2021 being awarded in 2023.

(With inputs from agencies)