59th National Film Awards

59th National Film Awards
Logo reads "59th" with the lotus symbol on top and golden yellow background
59th National Film Awards event logo
Awarded forBest of Indian cinema in 2011
Awarded byDirectorate of Film Festivals
Presented byMohammad Hamid Ansari
(Vice-President of India)
Announced on7 March 2012 (2012-03-07)
Presented on3 May 2012 (2012-05-03)
SiteVigyan Bhavan, New Delhi
Hosted byVinay Pathak and Saumya Tandon
Official websitedff.nic.in
Highlights
Best Feature Film
Best Non-Feature FilmAnd We Play On
Best BookR. D. Burman: The Man The Music
Best Film CriticManoj Barpujari
Dadasaheb Phalke AwardSoumitra Chatterjee
Most awards • Anhe Ghore Da Daan
 • Balgandharva
 • Chillar Party
 • Deool
 • Ranjana Ami Ar Ashbona
 • The Dirty Picture (3)

The 59th National Film Awards, presented by the Directorate of Film Festivals, honoured the best of Indian cinema for 2011 and took place on 3 May 2012 at Vigyan Bhavan, New Delhi. Awards were presented in 38 categories in the Feature Films section, 20 categories in the Non-Feature Films section and two categories for the Best Writing on Cinema section; 41 jury members chose the winners from 392 entries. The ceremony was hosted by actors Vinay Pathak and Saumya Tandon. Awards were presented by the Vice-President of India, Mohammad Hamid Ansari. The ceremony was broadcast live on three television channels, eleven All India Radio stations, and webcast live.

Deool, a Marathi film, and Byari, the first and only Beary film, shared the award for the Best Feature Film. The award for the Best Non-Feature Film was given to the Hindi-English documentary And We Play On. The book, R. D. Burman: The Man, The Music, co-authored by Anirudha Bhattacharjee and Balaji Vittal, won the Best Book on Cinema; Assamese film critic Manoj Barpujari was declared the Best Film Critic. Gurvinder Singh won the best feature film direction award for his directorial debut, Anhe Ghore Da Daan. For the film Deool, Girish Kulkarni won the awards for Best Actor and Best Dialogue; Bollywood actress Vidya Balan won the Best Actress award for The Dirty Picture. The Dadasaheb Phalke Award, regarded as the most prestigious recognition in Indian cinema, was given to the veteran Bengali actor Soumitra Chatterjee for his contribution to Bengali cinema.