National Film Award for Best Film on Other Social Issues

National Film Award for Best Film on Other Social Issues
National award for contributions to Indian Cinema
Awarded forBest feature film on Social Issues such as Prohibition, Women and Child Welfare, Anti-dowry, Drug Abuse, Welfare of the Handicapped etc. for a year
Sponsored byDirectorate of Film Festivals
Reward(s)
  • Rajat Kamal (Silver Lotus)
  • ₹150,000 (US$1,800)
First awarded1984
Last awarded2019
Most recent WinnerAnandi Gopal
Highlights
Total awarded42
First winnerAccident

The National Film Award for Best Film on Other Social Issues was one of the category in the National Film Awards presented annually by the Directorate of Film Festivals, the organization set up by the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting in India. It was one of several awards presented for feature films and is awarded with Rajat Kamal (Silver Lotus). At the 70th National Film Awards, the category was discontinued and combined with Best Film on Family Welfare, Best Film on National Integration and Best Feature Film on National Integration. The new award is named as Best Feature Film Promoting National, Social and Environmental Values.[1][2]

The National Film Awards were established in 1954 to "encourage production of the films of a high aesthetic and technical standard and educational and culture value" and also planned to included awards for regional films.[3][4] In 1984, at the 32nd National Film Awards various new categories were instituted for Swarna Kamal and Rajat Kamal. Categories like the Best Supporting Actor, Best Supporting Actress, Best Costume Design along with the Best Film on Other Social Issues were introduced for the Rajat Kamal. This category was introduced to be awarded annually for films produced in the year across the country, in all Indian languages. As of 2016 since its inception, the award has been present thirty-three times to thirty-six films. It has been presented for films in seven languages with the highest being twelve in Hindi, followed by ten in Malayalam, five in Tamil, four in Marathi, three in Bengali, two in Kannada and one in Telugu. It was not presented on two occasion in 1985 (33rd ceremony) and 2011 (59th ceremony).[5][6]

The inaugural award was conferred upon production banner Sanket (Rajat Kamal and ₹ 30,000) and director Shankar Nag (Rajat Kamal and ₹ 15,000) for their Kannada film Accident for dealing with the bold topic of whistleblowing against political corruption and dealing with bad effects of alcoholism.[7] On five occasion the award was shared by two films: in 1987 by Tamil films Ore Oru Gramathiley and Vedham Pudhithu, in 1993 by Janani (Bengali) and Naaraayam (Malayalam), in 1994 by Wheelchair (Bengali) and Parinayam (Malayalam), in 2000 by Munnudi (Kannada) and Vetri Kodi Kattu (Tamil), and in 2003 by Hindi films Koi... Mil Gaya and Gangaajal.[8]

  1. ^ Bharat, E. T. V. (2024-02-13). "National Film Awards Undergo Changes, Nargis Dutt, Indira Gandhi Categories Renamed". ETV Bharat News. Retrieved 2024-08-20.
  2. ^ "Indira Gandhi, Nargis Dutt's names dropped from National Film Awards categories". India Today. 2024-02-13. Retrieved 2024-08-20.
  3. ^ "1st National Film Awards". International Film Festival of India. Archived from the original on 2017-05-17. Retrieved 10 May 2017.
  4. ^ "1st National Film Awards (PDF)" (PDF). Directorate of Film Festivals. Retrieved 10 May 2017.
  5. ^ Cite error: The named reference 33rdawardPDF was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  6. ^ Cite error: The named reference 59thaward was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
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  8. ^ Cite error: The named reference 65thaward was invoked but never defined (see the help page).