71st National Film Awards – A celebration of Films and film craft

 

New Delhi, 23 September 2025

Hon’ble President of India will present the 71st National Film Awards (NFA) at Vigyan Bhawan, New Delhi today.   The awards go to the filmmakers, actors and technicians whose work was adjudged the best for films certified in the year 2023. Earlier on 1^st August, 2025, the official winners were announced and today at Vigyan Bhawan, their contributions are being formally recognised and celebrated through felicitations in the NFA Awards ceremony.

The first National Film Awards ceremony (for the film produced in 1953) took place in the year 1954 at the same venue in New Delhi.  With passing years the number of awards and categories in which selections are made by jury has expanded considerably.  The categories now include the feature, non-feature, regional, book on films and the coveted Dadasaheb Phalke Award that honours the life time achievement of personalities involved in the field of Films.

This year Malayalam cinema’s iconic actor Mohanlal, who has a career spanning four decades and celebrated for over 350 films across multiple Indian languages is being conferred with the Dadasaheb Phalke Award. The Award was instituted in the year 1969 to commemorate the achievements of “father of Indian cinema,” Dadasaheb, and is reserved for a film personality for his/her lifetime of outstanding contribution to the growth and development of Indian cinema.

Born in Elanthoor, Kerala in the year 1960, Mohanlal is known for effortless versatility, who besides being an actor is also a producer, singer, martial-arts enthusiast, and recipient of several national and international awards. His work spans across action, drama, and experimental cinema. His landmark works include Manichitrathazhu, Kireedam, Vanaprastham, Bharatham, and Drishyam, alongside blockbusters like Pulimurugan and Lucifer. He excels in both art-house and commercial roles, collaborating with masters like Bharathan, Padmarajan, and Priyadarshan, shaping Malayalam cinema while also acting in Tamil, Hindi, and Telugu films. He is married to Suchitra and has two children, Pranav and Vismaya.

The 71st National Film Awards recognises films certified between 1 January and 31 December 2023. The winners who were declared in a press release on 1 August 2025; today the winners will be formally honoured by Hon’ble President of India.

Apart from the Dadasaheb Phalke life time award, the Best Feature Film (Swarna Kamal) goes to 12th Fail. Best Actor in Leading Role is being awarded to Shah Rukh Khan and Vikrant Massey (shared) — for Jawan and 12th Fail respectively. Best Actress (Leading Role) goes to Rani Mukerji in Mrs Chatterjee Vs Norway. Some of the other award are best Supporting Actor Shri Vijayaraghavan a prominent actor from Malayalam Films. Best Supporting Actress: Urvashi; Janaki Bodiwala, besides winners in several other categories.