72nd National Film Awards 2026 Winners: Complete List of Award Winners and Their Celebrated Films

The 72nd National Film Awards have once again celebrated the finest achievements in Indian cinema, honouring exceptional performances, visionary filmmaking and technical brilliance across multiple languages.

Swati Bhat

Announced in New Delhi, this year's awards recognized films certified during 2024, highlighting the diversity and creative strength of the Indian film industry.

Political thriller Article 370 emerged as one of the biggest winners of the evening, winning the coveted Best Feature Film award. The film also brought Yami Gautam her first-ever National Award, earning her the Best Actress honour for her powerful and nuanced performance.

The Best Actor award was shared by Kartik Aaryan for his inspiring performance in Chandu Champion and Mammootty for the critically acclaimed Malayalam film Bramayugam, reflecting the jury's appreciation for two vastly different yet equally compelling performances.

Among language-specific honours, Srikanth, starring Rajkummar Rao, was named Best Hindi Feature Film, while Raayan received the Best Tamil Film award. Malayalam cinema celebrated Feminichi Fathima, and several regional films from Telugu, Kannada and Marathi cinema were also recognized for their storytelling excellence.

Major Winners at the 72nd National Film Awards

Best Feature Film: Article 370

Best Actor: Kartik Aaryan (Chandu Champion) and Mammootty (Bramayugam)

Best Actress: Yami Gautam (Article 370)

Best Hindi Feature Film: Srikanth

Best Tamil Feature Film: Raayan

Best Malayalam Feature Film: Feminichi Fathima

Best Marathi Feature Film: Mukkam Post Bombilwadi

This year's National Film Awards showcased the growing strength of Indian cinema across mainstream and regional industries. From socially relevant stories and biographical dramas to technically accomplished productions, the honours reflected the industry's evolving creative landscape and reaffirmed the National Film Awards as India's most prestigious recognition for cinematic excellence.

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"Wildlife film making is not a career, but a commitment" says Award winning film maker Nallamuthu

MIFF Campus: Wildlife film making is not a career but a commitment which not everybody can pursue, said five time National Award winning Wildlife film maker Subbiah Nallamuthu. He added that he won’t encourage everyone to get into wildlife film making. Subbaiah Nallamuthu was talking at a Master Class held in connection with the 17th Mumbai International Film Festival.

Swati Bhat

Detailing the challenges of wildlife filmmaking, he said that the difficult part is to get an interesting story and getting it pitched to international channels. “ It is very difficult to get commissioned projects from international channels. It is one of the reasons why most of my projects are self-funded. Then there are challenges like getting permission to shoot, obtaining clearance from animal welfare board and getting high definition good quality equipment on hire to shoot”, he said.

Touching upon the financial aspects of wildlife film making, Subbiah Nallamuthu said that though he managed to get the investment back from most of his films, there is no guarantee for it. He further said that it is a great gamble to do a wildlife documentary.

Recalling the genesis of his award winning documentary ‘The World’s Most Famous Tiger’, he said that 250 hours of footage has been captured using a single camera for the production. “Whole idea of getting a sequence, connecting it and making it into a story is a big challenge. 90 % of the sound track used in the film was added during post production and 10 % of wild life track was recorded during shoot,” he said.

Subbiah Nallamuthu criticised young people that most of them having DSLR cameras want to go out into the wild, shoot something in auto mode and make money in six months; which is not possible. If there is no perfect story, then no one will be interested to buy it. A whole lot of commitment and slogging is involved. Unfortunately our youngsters are lacking that kind of commitment”, he described.

Replying to the reason for selecting Royal Bengal Tiger as his subject for documentary, Subbiah said that since Tiger is a charismatic animal, that story will sell and help get back the huge money invested in making. “But I have also done award winning documentaries on other animals which most people don’t know”. He also revealed his plan to make a full length feature film on Tiger. Subbiah’s documentary ‘The World’s Most Famous Tiger’ was also screened during the Master Class.

#thecommuiue #tc #tcn #MIFF2022 #nallamuthu #natgeo #nationalaward #event #wildlife #tiger #machali