20th National Film Awards


The 20th National Film Awards, presented by Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, India to felicitate the best of Indian Cinema released in the year 1972.
With this year, new award category is introduced for the feature films made in Meitei language. This newly introduced category includes President's Silver Medal for Best Feature Film in Manipuri.

Juries

Six different committees were formed based on the film making sectors in India, mainly based in Bombay, Calcutta and Madras along with the central committee for all India level. For 20th National Film Awards, central committee was headed by Romesh Thapar.
Awards were divided into feature films and non-feature films.
President's Gold Medal for the All India Best Feature Film is now better known as National Film Award for Best Feature Film, whereas 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, Prime Minister's Gold Medal is now given as National Film Award for Best Children's Film. At the regional level, President's Silver Medal for Best Feature Film is now given as National Film Award for Best Feature Film in a particular language. Certificate of Merit in all the categories is discontinued over the years.

Lifetime Achievement Award

Name of AwardAwardeeAwarded AsAwards
Dadasaheb Phalke AwardPankaj MullickMusic Director11,000, a shawl and a plaque

Feature films

Feature films were awarded at All India as well as regional level. For 20th National Film Awards, a Malayalam film Swayamvaram won the President's Gold Medal for the All India Best Feature Film along with winning the maximum number of awards. Following were the awards given in each category:

All India Award

Following were the awards given:
AwardFilmLanguageAwardeeCash Prize
Best Feature FilmSwayamvaramMalayalamProducer: Kulathoor Bhaskaran NairGold Medal and 40,000
Best Feature FilmSwayamvaramMalayalamDirector: Adoor Gopalakrishnan10,000 and a plaque
Second Best Feature FilmCalcutta 71BengaliProducer: D. S. Sultania15,000 and a medal
Second Best Feature FilmCalcutta 71BengaliDirector: Mrinal Sen5,000 and a plaque
Best Feature Film on National IntegrationAchanum BappayumMalayalamProducer: C. C. Baby30,000 and a medal
Best Feature Film on National IntegrationAchanum BappayumMalayalamDirector: K. S. Sethumadhavan10,000 and a plaque
Best DirectionSwayamvaramMalayalamAdoor Gopalakrishnan 5,000 and a plaque
Best Cinematography SwayamvaramMalayalamMankada Ravi Varma5,000 and a plaque
Best Cinematography Maya DarpanHindiK. K. Mahajan5,000 and a plaque
Best ScreenplayKoshishHindiGulzar 5,000 and a plaque
Best Actor KoshishHindiSanjeev KumarA figurine
Best Actress SwayamvaramMalayalamSharadaA figurine
Best Child ArtistRanur Pratham BhagBengaliNeera MallyaA plaque
Best Female Playback SingerParichay
HindiLata MangeshkarA plaque
Best Male Playback SingerAchanum BappayumMalayalamK. J. YesudasA plaque
Best Music DirectionZindagi ZindagiHindiSachin Dev Burman 5,000 and a plaque
Lyric Writer of the Best Film Song on National IntegrationAchanum BappayumMalayalamVayalar Ramavarma 5,000 and a plaque

Regional Award

The awards were given to the best films made in the regional languages of India. For feature films in English, Kashmiri, Oriya and Punjabi language, President's Silver Medal for Best Feature Film was not given. The producer and director of the film were awarded with 5,000 and a Silver medal, respectively.

Non-Feature films

Following were the awards given:

Short films

Name of AwardName of FilmLanguageAwardeeAwards
Best Information Film The Inner EyeEnglishProducer: Satyajit Ray5,000 and a medal
Best Information Film The Inner EyeEnglishDirector: Satyajit Ray5,000 and a medal
Best Film on Social DocumentationTranscedenceEnglishProducer: Pramod Patil for Films Division5,000
Best Film on Social DocumentationTranscedenceEnglishDirector: K. Vishwanath for Films Division2,000
Best Promotional Film Destination IndiaEnglishProducer: Cinerad CommunicationsSilver Medal
Best Promotional Film Destination IndiaEnglishDirector: Zafar HaiA plaque
Best Animation FilmYou Said ItEnglishProducer: Prasad Productions5,000
Best Animation FilmYou Said ItEnglishDirector: Ram Mohan2,000

Awards not given

Following were the awards not given as no film was found to be suitable for the award: