59th National Film Awards
The 59th National Film Awards, presented by the Directorate of Film Festivals, honoured the best of Indian cinema for 2011 and took place on 3 May 2012 at Vigyan Bhavan, New Delhi. Awards were presented in 38 categories in the Feature Films section, 20 categories in the Non-Feature Films section and two categories for the Best Writing on Cinema section; 41 jury members chose the winners from 392 entries. The ceremony was hosted by actors Vinay Pathak and Saumya Tandon. Awards were presented by the Vice-President of India, Mohammad Hamid Ansari. The ceremony was broadcast live on three television channels, eleven All India Radio stations, and webcast live.
Deool, a Marathi film, and Byari, the first and only Beary film, shared the award for the Best Feature Film. The award for the Best Non-Feature Film was given to the Hindi‐English documentary And We Play On. The book, R. D. Burman: The Man, The Music, co-authored by Anirudha Bhattacharjee and Balaji Vittal, won the Best Book on Cinema; Assamese film critic Manoj Barpujari was declared the Best Film Critic. Gurvinder Singh won the best feature film direction award for his directorial debut, Anhe Ghore Da Daan. For the film Deool, Girish Kulkarni won the awards for Best Actor and Best Dialogue; Bollywood actress Vidya Balan won the Best Actress award for The Dirty Picture. The Dadasaheb Phalke Award, regarded as the most prestigious recognition in Indian cinema, was given to the veteran Bengali actor Soumitra Chatterjee for his contribution to Bengali cinema.
Selection process
The Directorate of Film Festivals invited nominations for the 2012 award ceremony on 26 December 2011. Feature and Non-Feature Films certified by Central Board of Film Certification between 1 January 2011, and 31 December 2011, were eligible for the film award categories. The written material on Indian cinema published in Indian print media during the same period were eligible for the best writing on cinema section. The dubbed, revised or copied versions of a film or translation, abridgements, edited or annotated works and reprints were ineligible for the awards. The deadline for submissions was 17 January 2012.The Feature Film category received 186 entries in 19 languages, marking the highest number of submissions in the history of the National Film Awards, as of 2011. A total of 156 entries were received in the Non-Feature Films category along with 28 books and 22 articles which were submitted for the Best Writing in Cinema.
Awards
The National Film Awards are grouped into three sections: Feature Films, Non-Feature Films and Writing on Cinema. On 7 March 2012, in a press conference held at Shastri Bhavan, New Delhi, the winners for the 2012 award ceremony were announced. A lifetime achievement award, named after Dadasaheb Phalke, was awarded to a film personality for an outstanding contribution to the Indian Cinema. The winners were awarded a medallion, a cash prize and a certificate of merit.Dadasaheb Phalke Award
Introduced in 1969, the Dadasaheb Phalke Award is the highest award given to recognise the contributions of film personalities towards the development of Indian cinema and for distinguished contributions to the medium, its growth and promotion. A committee consisting of five personalities from the Indian film industry was appointed to evaluate the Dadasaheb Phalke award nominations for 2011. Following were the jury members:The Dadasaheb Phalke award for 2011 was announced on 23 March 2012. Actor Soumitra Chatterjee won the award for his contribution to Indian cinema, predominantly in Bengali cinema. Chatterjee was a regular in Satyajit Ray films, has worked with other notable directors such as Mrinal Sen and Tapan Sinha in a career lasting over 50 years.
| Name of Award | Awardee | Awarded As | Awards |
| Dadasaheb Phalke Award | Soumitra Chatterjee | Actor | Swarna Kamal, and a Shawl |
Feature Films
Feature films were awarded at national and regional levels. A Marathi film, Deool and a Beary film, Byari, shared the National Film Award for Best Feature Film. Deool became the third Marathi film to win the honour after Shyamchi Aai and Shwaas. The film's author and lead actor, Girish Kulkarni, won the awards for Best Actor and Best Dialogues. Byari is the first feature film ever made in the Beary language. In this section, 24 films won awards, and six films, including Deool, the Punjabi film Anhe Ghore Da Daan, another Marathi film Balgandharva, a Bengali film Ranjana Ami Ar Ashbona and two Hindi films Chillar Party and The Dirty Picture, won three awards each.Jury
For the Feature Film section, six committees were formed based on the different geographic regions in India. The two-tier evaluation process included a central committee and five regional committees. The central committee, headed by the actor Rohini Hattangadi, included the heads of each regional committee and five other jury members. At regional level, each committee consisted of one chief and four members. The chief and one non-chief member of each regional committee were selected from outside that geographic region. The table below names the jury members for the central and regional committees:Central Jury
Northern Region:
Eastern Region:
Western Region:
Southern Region I:
Southern Region II:
All India Awards
At national level, feature films competed in 29 categories. The Swarna Kamal was awarded in five categories, the Rajat Kamal in the rest. In this edition, the Golden Lotus Award for the Best Animation Film and eight Silver Lotus Awards were not announced. The awards given were as follows:Golden Lotus Award
All the winners were awarded with a Swarna Kamal, a certificate and a cash prize.| Name of Award | Name of Film | Language | Awardee | Cash Prize |
| Best Feature Film | Deool | Marathi | Producer: Abhijeet Gholap Director: Umesh Vinayak Kulkarni | |
| Best Feature Film | Byari | Beary | Producer: T. H. Althaf Hussain Director: Suveeran | |
| Best Debut Film of a Director | Aaranya Kaandam | Tamil | Producer: S. P. B. Charan Director: Thiagarajan Kumararaja | |
| Best Popular Film Providing Wholesome Entertainment | Azhagarsamiyin Kuthirai | Tamil | Producer: P. Madhan Director: Suseenthiran | |
| Best Children's Film | Chillar Party | Hindi | Producer: UTV Software Communications, Salman Khan Director: Vikas Bahl and Nitesh Tiwari | |
| Best Direction | Anhe Ghore Da Daan | Punjabi | Gurvinder Singh |
Silver Lotus Award
All the winners were awarded with a Rajat Kamal, a certificate and a cash prize.| Name of Award | Name of Film | Language | Awardee | Cash Prize |
| Best Actor | Deool | Marathi | Girish Kulkarni | |
| Best Actress | The Dirty Picture | Hindi | Vidya Balan | |
| Best Supporting Actor | Azhagarsamiyin Kuthirai | Tamil | Appukutty | |
| Best Supporting Actress | Phijigee Mani | Manipuri | Leishangthem Tonthoingambi Devi | |
| Best Child Artist | Stanley Ka Dabba | Hindi | Partho Gupte | |
| Best Child Artist | Chillar Party | Hindi | Irrfan Khan Sanath Menon Rohan Grover Naman Jain Aarav Khanna Vishesh Tiwari Chinmai Chandranshuh Vedant Desai Divij Handa Shriya Sharma | |
| Best Male Playback Singer | Balgandharva | Marathi | Anand Bhate | |
| Best Female Playback Singer | Abosheshey | Bengali | Roopa Ganguly | |
| Best Cinematography | Anhe Ghore Da Daan | Punjabi | Cameraman: Satya Rai Nagpaul Laboratory Processing: Reliance MediaWorks | |
| Best Screenplay Screenplay Writer | Chillar Party | Hindi | Vikas Bahl Nitesh Tiwari Vijay Maurya | |
| Best Screenplay Screenplay Writer | Shala | Marathi | Avinash Deshpande Nigdi | |
| Best Screenplay Dialogues | Deool | Marathi | Girish Kulkarni | |
| Best Audiography Location Sound Recordist | Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara | Hindi | Baylon Fonseca | |
| Best Audiography Sound Designer | Game | Hindi | Baylon Fonseca | |
| Best Audiography Re-recordist of the Final Mixed Track | Game | Hindi | Hitendra Ghosh | |
| Best Editing | Aaranya Kaandam | Tamil | Praveen K. L. N. B. Srikanth | |
| Best Art Direction | Noukadubi | Bengali | Indraneel Ghosh | |
| Best Costume Design | Balgandharva | Marathi | Neeta Lulla | |
| Best Costume Design | The Dirty Picture | Hindi | Niharika Khan | |
| Best Make-up Artist | Balgandharva | Marathi | Vikram Gaikwad | |
| Best Make-up Artist | The Dirty Picture | Hindi | Vikram Gaikwad | |
| Best Music Direction Songs | Ranjana Ami Ar Ashbona | Bengali | Neel Dutt | |
| Best Music Direction Background Score | Laptop | Bengali | Mayookh Bhaumik | |
| Best Lyrics | I Am | Hindi | Amitabh Bhattacharya | |
| Best Special Effects | Ra.One | Hindi | Harry Hingorani Keitan Yadav | |
| Best Choreography | Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara | Hindi | Bosco-Caesar | |
| Special Jury Award | Ranjana Ami Ar Ashbona | Bengali | Anjan Dutt | |
| Special Mention | Byari | Beary | Mallika | Certificate only |
| Special Mention | Adimadhyantham | Malayalam | Sherrey | Certificate only |
Regional Awards
National Film Awards are also given to the best films in the regional languages of India. Awards for the regional languages are categorised as per their mention in the Eighth schedule of the Constitution of India. Awardees included producers and directors of the film. No films in languages other than those specified in the Schedule VIII of the Constitution were eligible.All the winners were awarded with Rajat Kamal, a certificate and cash prize. Following were the awards given:
Non-Feature Films
In the Non-Feature Film section, 21 films won awards. Three films—Panchakki, There is Something in the Air and Tiger Dynasty—won three awards each. There is Something in the Air also won the award for best direction—one of the Golden Lotus awards for Non-Feature Films. Three Silver Lotus Awards from Non-Feature Films section were not awarded.Jury
A committee of seven, headed by director Romesh Sharma, was appointed to evaluate the Non-Feature Films entries. The jury members were:Golden Lotus Award
All the winners were awarded with Swarna Kamal, a certificate and cash prize.| Name of Award | Name of Film | Language | Awardee | Cash Prize |
| Best Non-Feature Film | And We Play On | Hindi English | Producer: Pramod Purswane Director: Pramod Purswane | |
| Best Non-Feature Film Direction | There is Something in the Air | Hindi Urdu English | Iram Ghufran |
Silver Lotus Award
All the winners were awarded with Rajat Kamal and cash prize.| Name of Award | Name of Film | Language | Awardee | Cash Prize |
| Best First Non-Feature Film | The Silent Poet | Manipuri | Producer: Borun Thokchom Director: Borun Thokchom | |
| Best Anthropological / Ethnographic Film | Bom | Hindi English | Producer: Anirban Datta Director: Amlan Datta | |
| Best Biographical Film /Best Historical Reconstruction Film | Vishnupant Damle: Bolpatancha Mook Nayak | Marathi | Producer: Anil Anant Damle Director: Virendra Valsangkar | |
| Best Arts / Cultural Film | Fried Fish, Chicken Soup and a Premiere Show | Manipuri English | Producer: Madhusree Dutta Director: Mamta Murthy | |
| Best Arts / Cultural Film | Lasya Kavvya – The World of Alarmel Valli | English | Producer: Sankalp Meshram Director: Sankalp Meshram | |
| Best Environment / Conservation / Preservation Film | Tiger Dynasty | English | Producer: S. Nallamuthu Director: S. Nallamuthu | |
| Best Promotional Film | The Dream Fulfilled — Memories of the Engineering Challenges | English | Producer: Delhi Metro Rail Corporation Director: Satish Pande | |
| Best Film on Social Issues | Mindscapes... of Love and Longing | Hindi English | Producer: Public Service Broadcasting Trust Director: Arun Chadha | |
| Best Film on Social Issues | Inshallah, Football | Kashmiri Urdu English | Producer: Javed Jaffrey Director: Ashvin Kumar | |
| Best Educational / Motivational / Instructional Film | A Drop of Sunshine | English | Producer: Public Service Broadcasting Trust Director: Aparna Sanyal | |
| Best Exploration / Adventure Film | The Finish Line | English | Producer: Syed Sultan Ahmed and Tabassum Modi Director: Akshay Roy | |
| Best Investigative Film | Cotton for My Shroud | English | Producer: Kavita Bahl Director: Nandan Saxena and Kavita Bahl | |
| Best Short Fiction Film | Panchakki | Hindi | Producer: Sanjeev Rattan Director: Sanjeev Rattan | |
| Best Film on Family Welfare | Red Building where the Sun Sets | English | Producer: Syed Sultan Ahmed and Tabassum Modi Director: Revathi | |
| Best Cinematography | Tiger Dynasty | English | Cameraman: S. Nallamuthu | |
| Best Audiography | 1, 2 | Hindi | Gautam Nair | |
| Best Editing | There is Something in the Air | Hindi Urdu English | Iram Ghufran | |
| Best Music Direction | Panchakki | Hindi | Dhrubajyoti Phukan | |
| Best Narration / Voice Over | Just that Sort of a Day | English | Ann Abraham | |
| Special Jury Award | Jai Bhim Comrade | Marathi | Anand Patwardhan | |
| Special Mention | You Don't Belong | Bengali English | Spandan Banerjee | Certificate only |
| Special Mention | Airawat | Marathi Hindi | Renu Savant | Certificate only |
| Special Mention | - | - | - | - |
Best Writing on Cinema
The Best Writing on Cinema awards are intended to encourage the study and appreciation of cinema as an art form and the dissemination of information and critical appreciation of the medium through books, articles, reviews etc.Jury
A committee of three, headed by the National Award-winning writer Vijaya Mulay was appointed to evaluate the nominations for the best writing on Indian cinema. The jury members were as follows:Golden Lotus Award
Official Name: Swarna KamalAll the winners were awarded with Swarna Kamal, cash prize and a certificate.
| Name of Award | Name of Book | Language | Awardee | Cash Prize |
| Best Book on Cinema | R. D. Burman: The Man The Music | English | Author: Anirudha Bhattacharjee and Balaji Vittal Publisher:Harper Collins India |
| Name of Award | Language | Awardee | Cash Prize |
| Best Film Critic | Assamese English | Manoj Barpujari |
Awards not given
Across all the sections, 12 out of 60 awards were not presented. Some were not awarded because no entries were submitted and for others, no suitable films were found. All the awards for the Best Writing on Cinema section were awarded. The following awards from the other two sections were not given:;Feature films
- Best Animated Film
- Best Film on Environment Conservation / Preservation
- Best Film on Family Welfare
- Best Film on National Integration
- Best Film on Other Social Issues
- Best Feature Film in Assamese
- Best Feature Film in English
- Best Feature Film in Oriya
- Best Feature Film in Telugu
- Best Animation Film
- Best Agricultural Film
- Best Scientific Film
Award ceremony
To mark the centenary of Indian cinema, the ceremony started with clips of the first full-length Indian feature film, Raja Harishchandra. Directed by Dadasaheb Phalke, this silent film was released on 3 May 1913 at Coronation Cinema, Mumbai. To honour this historic event, Soni announced that 2013 would be observed as the centenary year of Indian Cinema and that the National Film Awards ceremony would be held on 3 May every year. She also announced that a National Heritage Mission would be set up to digitise and restore all audio and video tapes of Indian films. A Museum of Indian Cinema would also be inaugurated at the Gulshan Mahal, Mumbai, before May 2013.
Rajiv Mehrotra of the Public Service Broadcasting Trust won his twentieth National Film Award. The acclaimed Kannada director Girish Kasaravalli received his 13th National Film Award when his film Koormavatara won the Best Feature Film in Kannada award. The dress designer Neeta Lulla won her fourth award for the costumes in Balgandharva. Also, eleven child artists were given Best Child Artist Awards for their performances.
Three award-winners—Anand Bhate, Roopa Ganguly and Amitabh Bhattacharya, who won the award for Best Male Playback Singer, Best Female Playback Singer and Best Lyrics respectively—performed live during the ceremony. Both the singers performed their award-winning songs—Bhate sang "Chinmaya Sakal Hridaya" from the Marathi film Balgandharva and Ganguly performed "Dure Kothao Dure Dure" from her film Abosheshey. Bhattacharya was accompanied by singer-songwriter Amit Trivedi for the song "Agar Zindagi" from I Am.