72nd National Film Awards:Article 370 wins Best Feature Film; Kartik Aaryan named Best Actor, Yami Gautam Best Actress

The winners of the 72nd National Film Awards for 2024 were announced on Saturday, with Article 370 winning the Best Feature Film award. Srikanth was named Best Hindi Film, while Yami Gautam won the Best Actress award for her performance in Article 370. Kartik Aaryan shared the Best Actor honour for Chandu Champion with Mammootty, who was recognised for his performance in Bramayugam. Among the regional film winners, Raayan won Best Tamil Film, Committee Kurrollu was named Best Telugu Film, Lahari won Best Odia Film, Mukkam Post Bombilwadi received the Best Marathi Film award, and Sunita was declared the Best Manipuri Film. Captain Miller and Meiyazhagan received Special Mention awards. In the non-feature category, Bhangar (Obsolite) was named Best Non-Feature Film, Main Nida won the Best Art and Culture Film award, and Humsafar was honoured as the Best Short Film. National Film Awards: A Brief History The National Film Awards were instituted in 1954 to encourage excellence in Indian cinema and recognise outstanding films across languages. Initially known as the State Awards for Films, they were first presented by then President Dr. Rajendra Prasad. The inaugural awards recognised Shyamchi Aai as Best Feature Film, Mahatma Gandhi as Best Documentary, and Awakening as Best Children's Film. The awards originally featured only three categories, Best Feature Film, Best Documentary and Best Children's Film, but gradually expanded to include honours for films in multiple Indian languages and technical categories. The awards were officially renamed the National Film Awards in 1968.