The 17th

National Film Awards The National Film Awards is the most prominent film award ceremony in India. Established in 1954, it has been administered, along with the International Film Festival of India and the Indian Panorama, by the Indian government's Directorat ...

were presented by the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting of India to facilitate the best of

Indian cinema The Cinema of India consists of motion pictures produced in India, which had a large effect on world cinema since the late 20th century. Major centers of film production across the country include Mumbai, Chennai, Hyderabad, Visakhapatnam, ...

released in 1969. The ceremony took place at University Centenary Auditorium,

Madras Chennai (, ), formerly known as Madras ( the official name until 1996), is the capital city of Tamil Nadu, the southernmost Indian state. The largest city of the state in area and population, Chennai is located on the Coromandel Coast of th ...

on 21 November 1970. At the 17th National Film Awards, a new award was introduced to honour the father of Indian cinema, Dhundiraj Govind Phalke, better known as

Dadasaheb Phalke Dhundiraj Govind Phalke (Pronunciation: ̪ʱuɳɖiɾaːd͡ʒ pʰaːɭke, popularly known as Dadasaheb Phalke () (30 April 1870 – 16 February 1944), was an Indian producer-director-screenwriter, known as "the Father of Indian cinema". His de ...

. Named the

Dadasaheb Phalke Award The Dadasaheb Phalke Award is India's highest award in the field of cinema. It is presented annually at the National Film Awards ceremony by the Directorate of Film Festivals, an organisation set up by the Ministry of Information and Broad ...

, it was introduced to recognise the contribution of film personalities towards the development of Indian cinema. Starting with the 100th anniversary of the birth of Phalke in 1870, the award was awarded annually for this distinguished contribution.

Juries

Six different committees were formed based on the filmmaking sectors in India; along with the award categories, they were mainly based in Bombay, Calcutta and Madras. Another committee for the All India level was also formed, which included some of the members from the regional committees. For the 17th National Film Awards, this central committee was headed by Justice G. D. Khosla. * Jury Members: Central ** G. D. Khosla (

Chairperson The chairperson, also chairman, chairwoman or chair, is the presiding officer of an organized group such as a board, committee, or deliberative assembly. The person holding the office, who is typically elected or appointed by members of the grou ...

) Sitaram KesriShiela VatsA. C. Jalan

Ezra Mir Ezra Mir (26 October 1903 – 7 March 1993) (fl. 1924–1993) was an Indian film-maker, known for his documentary films. Mir changed his Jewish birth name, Edwyn Meyers, to Ezra Mir because he felt his original name "lacked Indianness". After w ...

B. K. Karanjia Teji Bachchan

I. S. Johar Inder Sen Johar(16 February 1920 – 10 March 1984), better known as I. S. Johar, was an Indian actor, writer, producer and director, who excelled in comedic roles. Early life Inderjeet Singh Johar was born on 16th February, 1920 in Talagang ...

Haridas Bhattacharjee U. Visweswar RaoSunder Lal Nahata M. N. Kapur * Jury Members: Documentary ** Tara Ali Baig (

)Rashid-Ul-Talib Kapila VatsyayanUsha Bhagat

Shanta Gandhi Shanta Kalidas Gandhi (20 December 1917 – 6 May 2002) was an Indian theatre director, dancer and playwright who was closely associated with IPTA, the cultural wing of the Communist Party of India. She studied with Indira Gandhi at a residenti ...

* Jury Members: Short Films **

Amrita Pritam Amrita Pritam (; 31 August 1919 – 31 October 2005) was an Indian novelist, essayist and poet, who wrote in Punjabi and Hindi. A prominent figure in Punjabi literature, she is the recipient of the 1956 Sahitya Akademi Award. Her body of wo ...

(

)R. G. AnandInder Lal Das * Jury Regional: Bombay ** Nissim Ezekiel (

)Urmila KapurNavin KhandwallaR. S. PandeFiroze RangoonwallaBikram SinghBal ChhabdaShatrujit PaulBuny TalwarG. P. Shirke * Jury Regional: Calcutta **

Amala Shankar Amala Shankar (''née'' Nandy, 27 June 1919 – 24 July 2020) was an Indian danseuse. She was the wife of dancer and choreographer Uday Shankar and mother of musician Ananda Shankar and dancer Mamata Shankar (later she became an actress) and ...

(

)Roma Choudhry Chintamoni KarK. C. PanigrahiA. K. Pramanick

Utpal Dutta Utpal Dutta () (29 March 1929 – 19 August 1993) was an Indian actor, director, and writer-playwright. He was primarily an actor in Bengali theatre, where he became a pioneering figure in Modern Indian theatre, when he founded the "Little The ...

Kanan DeviKartic ChatterjeeDurgadas MitraArti Tagore * Jury Regional: Madras **

C. R. Pattabhiraman Chetput Ramaswami Iyer Pattabhiraman ( ta, சேத்துப்பட்டு ராமசவாமி ஐயர் பட்டாபிராமன்) (11 November 1906 – 19 June 2001) was an Indian lawyer and politician from the I ...

(

)P. Achutha Menon R. K. Narayan Mallikarjuna Rao

Sarojini Varadappan Sarojini Varadappan (21 September 1921 − 17 October 2013) was an Indian social worker from the state of Tamil Nadu. She was the daughter of former Chief Minister of Madras, M. Bhaktavatsalam. Early life Sarojini was born in Madras on 21 S ...

K. ManoharanRajammal AnantharamanV. C. Subburaman

D. V. S. Raju Datla Venkata Suryanarayana Raju, better known as D. V. S. Raju (13 December 1928 – 13 November 2010) was an Indian film producer known for his works in Telugu Cinema and Bollywood. He was instrumental in shifting the Telugu film industry fro ...

B. Ananthaswami

Awards

Awards were divided into feature films and non-feature films. The President's Gold Medal for the All India Best Feature Film is now better known as the

National Film Award for Best Feature Film The National Award for Best Feature Film is one of the categories in the National Film Awards presented annually by the Directorate of Film Festivals, the organisation set up by Ministry of Information and Broadcasting in India. It is one of se ...

, whereas the President's Gold Medal for the Best Documentary Film is analogous to today's National Film Award for Best Non-Feature Film. For children's films, the Prime Minister's Gold Medal is now given as the

National Film Award for Best Children's Film The National Film Award for Best Children's Film is one of the National Film Awards presented annually by the Directorate of Film Festivals, the organisation set up by Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, India. It is one of several awards ...

. At the regional level, the President's Silver Medal for Best Feature Film is now given as the National Film Award for Best Feature Film in a particular language. Certificates of Merit in all categories have been discontinued over the years.

Lifetime Achievement Award

Feature films

Feature films were awarded at the All India as well as the regional level. For the 17th National Film Awards, a Bengali film ''

Bhuvan Shome ''Bhuvan Shome'' is a 1969 Indian Hindi-language drama film directed by Mrinal Sen based on the story of Balai Chand Mukhopadhyay. The cast includes Utpal Dutt (Mr. Bhuvan Shome) and Suhasini Mulay (Gauri, a village belle). Sen based his fil ...

'' won the President's Gold Medal for the All India Best Feature Film while also winning the maximum number of awards (three).

All India awards

The awards given at the All India level were as follows:

Regional awards

Some awards were given to the best films made in the various regional languages of India. For feature films in

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ...

, the President's Silver Medal for Best Feature Film was not given. The producer and director of the winning films were awarded with 5,000 and a Silver medal, respectively.

Non-Feature films

Awards were also given to numerous short films.

Awards not given

Some awards were not given because no film was considered suitable: * Best Story Writer * Best Film on Family Welfare * Best Children's Film * Best Child Artist * Best Film on Social Documentation * Best Experimental Film * Best Promotional Film (Non-Commercial) * President's Silver Medal for Best Feature Film in English

References

External links

National Film Awards Archives

Official Page for Directorate of Film Festivals, India
{{National Film Awards National Film Awards (India) ceremonies 1970 film awards 1970 in Indian cinema