1st National Film Awards

1st National Film Awards
Awarded forBest of Indian cinema in 1953
Awarded byMinistry of Information and Broadcasting
Presented byRajendra Prasad
(President of India)
Presented on10 October 1954 (1954-10-10)
SiteVigyan Bhavan, New Delhi
Official websitedff.nic.in
Best Feature FilmShyamchi Aai

The 1st National Film Awards, presented by Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, India to felicitate the best of Indian Cinema released in the year 1953.[1] Ceremony took place at Vigyan Bhavan, New Delhi on 10 October 1954 and awards were given by then President of India, Rajendra Prasad.

Instituted as State Awards for Films, which over the years known as National Film Awards, in its first year, were given in three different categories to honour the films at national level. Films made in all Indian languages were considered for the award. Awards were instituted, in order to encourage the production of the films of a high aesthetic and technical standard and educational and culture value.

Awards were categorised into three categories; Feature films, Documentaries and Children's films, where gold medal and Certificate of Merit was awarded in each category. For first two categories, Gold Medal was awarded as President's Gold Medal whereas for Children's films, it was awarded as Prime Minister's gold medal. For 1st National Film Awards, Prime Minister's Gold Medal Award for Children's film, though declared as one of the awards, was not given to any film as no film was found to be suitable.

Shyamchi Aai, a Marathi film received an honour to be the first Indian film to receive President's gold medal for the All India Best Feature Film, which now better known as National Film Award for Best Feature Film.[1][2][3]

  1. ^ a b "1st National Film Awards" (PDF). Directorate of Film Festivals. Archived (PDF) from the original on 25 July 2020. Retrieved 2 September 2020.
  2. ^ "Shyamchi Aai on Upperstall.com". Upperstall.com. Archived from the original on 5 September 2011. Retrieved 10 September 2011.
  3. ^ General Knowledge Digest 2010. Tata McGraw-Hill. ISBN 978-0-07-069939-7. Retrieved 10 September 2011.