7th National Film Awards


The 7th National Film Awards, then known as State Awards for Films, presented by Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, India to felicitate the best of Indian Cinema released in the year 1959. Ceremony took place at Vigyan Bhavan, New Delhi on 1 May 1960 and awards were given by then Vice-President of India, Dr. Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan.

Awards

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.

Feature films

Feature films were awarded at All India as well as regional level. For the 7th National Film Awards, a Bengali film Apur Sansar won the President's Gold Medal for the All India Best Feature Film. Following were the awards given:

All India Award

For 7th National Film awards, none of the films were awarded from Documentary and Children's Films category as no film was found to be suitable, instead only Certificate of Merit was given. Following were the awards given in each category:
AwardFilmLanguageAwardeeCash Prize
President's Gold Medal for the All India Best Feature FilmApur SansarBengaliProducer: Satyajit Ray Pvt Ltd.Gold Medal and 20,000
President's Gold Medal for the All India Best Feature FilmApur SansarBengaliDirector: Satyajit Ray5,000
All India Certificate of Merit for Second Best Feature FilmHeera MotiHindiProducer: Pravin DesaiCertificate of Merit and 10,000
All India Certificate of Merit for Second Best Feature FilmHeera MotiHindiDirector: Krishnan Chopra2,500
All India Certificate of Merit for the Third Best Feature FilmSujataHindiProducer: Bimal RoyCertificate of Merit only
All India Certificate of Merit for the Third Best Feature FilmSujataHindiDirector: Bimal RoyCertificate of Merit only
All India Certificate of Merit for Best Children's FilmBanyan DeerEnglishProducer: Films DivisionCertificate of Merit only
All India Certificate of Merit for Best Children's FilmBanyan DeerEnglishDirector: Ahmed LateefCertificate of Merit only
All India Certificate of Merit for Best Children's FilmBanyan DeerEnglishDirector: Shanti VermaCertificate of Merit only
All India Certificate of Merit for Best Children's FilmBanyan DeerEnglishDirector: G. G. SaraiyaCertificate of Merit only

Regional Award

The awards were given to the best films made in the regional languages of India. For 7th National Film Awards, President's Silver Medal for Best Feature Film was not given in Bengali, Kannada and Malayalam language; instead Certificate of Merit was awarded in each particular language.

Non-Feature films

Non-feature film awards were given for the documentaries made in the country. Following were the awards given:

Documentaries

AwardFilmLanguageAwardeeCash Prize
All India Certificate of Merit for the Best Documentary FilmKathakaliEnglishProducer: Films DivisionCertificate of Merit and 2,000
All India Certificate of Merit for the Best Documentary FilmKathakaliEnglishDirector: Mohan Wadhwani500
All India Certificate of Merit for the Best Documentary FilmMayurakshi DamHindiProducer: Films DivisionCertificate of Merit only
All India Certificate of Merit for the Best Documentary FilmMayurakshi DamHindiDirector: N. K. IssarCertificate of Merit only

Awards not given

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