The Ministry of Information and Broadcasting announced the winners of the 72nd National Film Awards on Saturday (July 18), with Yami Gautam winning the Best Actress award for Article 370.
Background
The announcement was made at the National Media Centre in New Delhi and streamed live on PIB India's YouTube channel.
The National Film Awards are regarded as India's highest recognition for excellence in Indian cinema. They honour achievements across feature films, non-feature films and writing on cinema, along with acting, direction, screenplay, music, cinematography, editing and other technical categories.
This year's awards recognised films certified by the Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC) between January 1 and December 31, 2024.
The winners were selected by an 11-member jury headed by acclaimed filmmaker Jayaraj, which evaluated entries from across the country before submitting its recommendations to the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting.
The 2024 film calendar featured several critically acclaimed and commercially successful releases across languages. Internationally celebrated titles such as All We Imagine As Light and Laapataa Ladies put Indian cinema in the global spotlight, while blockbusters including Pushpa 2: The Rule, Stree 2, Hanu Man, Manjummel Boys and Premalu emerged as some of the year's biggest hits.
Several performances were widely considered to be in contention for the Best Actress honour, including Yami Gautam for Article 370, Shraddha Kapoor for Stree 2, Sai Pallavi for Amaran, Kani Kusruti for All We Imagine As Light and Girls Will Be Girls, and Alia Bhatt for Jigra.
The complete list of winners across categories, including Best Actor, Best Feature Film and the Dadasaheb Phalke Award, was also announced during the ceremony.
