9th National Film Awards


The 9th 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 1961. The awards were announced on 5 April 1962 and were presented on 21 April at the Vigyan Bhavan in New Delhi, by then Vice-President of India, Dr. Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan.

Selection process

The Central Committee for State Awards for Films for the year was headed by politician and author R. R. Diwakar. To select films for the awards, the committee viewed "27 feature films, five children's films, seven documentaries and six educational films and a few filmstrips" between 19 March and 2 April 1962.

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 9th National Film Awards, a Bengali film Bhagini Nivedita won the President's Gold Medal for the All India Best Feature Film. Following were the awards given:

All India Award

Following were the awards given in each category:
AwardFilmLanguageAwardeeCash Prize
President's Gold Medal for the All India Best Feature FilmBhagini NiveditaBengaliProducer: Aurora Film CorporationGold Medal and 20,000
President's Gold Medal for the All India Best Feature FilmBhagini NiveditaBengaliDirector: Bijoy Bose5,000
All India Certificate of Merit for the Second Best Feature FilmPava MannippuTamilProducer: Buddha PicturesCertificate of Merit and 10,000
All India Certificate of Merit for the Second Best Feature FilmPava MannippuTamilDirector: A. Bhimsingh2,500
All India Certificate of Merit for the Third Best Feature FilmPrapanchMarathiProducer: Indian National PicturesCertificate of Merit only
All India Certificate of Merit for the Third Best Feature FilmPrapanchMarathiDirector: Madhukar PathakCertificate of Merit only
Prime Minister's Gold Medal for the Best Children's FilmHattogol VijayHindiProducer: Hari S. Dasgupta ProductionsGold Medal and 20,000
Prime Minister's Gold Medal for the Best Children's FilmHattogol VijayHindiDirector: Buju Das Gupta5,000
Prime Minister's Gold Medal for the Best Children's FilmHattogol VijayHindiDirector: Raghunath Goswami5,000
All India Certificate of Merit for the Second Best Children's FilmSavitriHindiProducer: Children's Film SocietyCertificate of Merit and 10,000
All India Certificate of Merit for the Second Best Children's FilmSavitriHindiDirector: Phani Majumdar2,500
All India Certificate of Merit for the Third Best Children's FilmNanhe Munne SitareHindiProducer: Ajay Kumar ChakravartyCertificate of Merit only
All India Certificate of Merit for the Third Best Children's FilmNanhe Munne SitareHindiDirector: Ajay Kumar ChakravartyCertificate of Merit only

Regional Award

The awards were given to the best films made in the regional languages of India. For 9th National Film Awards, President's Silver Medal for Best Feature Film was not given in Gujarati, Kannada and Odia language; instead Certificate of Merit was awarded in each particular language.

Non-Feature films

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

Documentaries

AwardFilmLanguageAwardeeCash Prize
President's Gold Medal for the Best Documentary FilmRabindranath Tagore
EnglishProducer: Films DivisionGold Medal and 4,000
President's Gold Medal for the Best Documentary FilmRabindranath Tagore
EnglishDirector: Satyajit Ray1,000
All India Certificate of Merit for the Second Best Documentary FilmOur Feathered FriendsEnglishProducer: Films DivisionCertificate of Merit and 2,000
All India Certificate of Merit for the Second Best Documentary FilmOur Feathered FriendsEnglishDirector: Gopal Datt500
All India Certificate of Merit for the Third Best Documentary FilmRomance of the Indian CoinEnglishProducer: Films DivisionCertificate of Merit only
All India Certificate of Merit for the Third Best Documentary FilmRomance of the Indian CoinEnglishDirector: G. H. SaraiyaCertificate of Merit only

Educational films

AwardFilmLanguageAwardeeCash Prize
Prime Minister's Gold Medal for the Best Educational FilmCitrus CultivationEnglishProducer: Films DivisionGold Medal and 4,000
Prime Minister's Gold Medal for the Best Educational FilmCitrus CultivationEnglishDirector: Krishna Kapil1,000
All India Certificate of Merit for the Second Best Educational FilmCoir WorkerEnglishProducer: F. R. BilimoriaCertificate of Merit only
All India Certificate of Merit for the Second Best Educational FilmCoir WorkerEnglishDirector: F. R. BilimoriaCertificate of Merit only
All India Certificate of Merit for the Third Best Educational FilmAhvanHindiProducer: Dhruva Kumar PandyaCertificate of Merit only
All India Certificate of Merit for the Third Best Educational FilmAhvanHindiDirector: Dhruva Kumar PandyaCertificate of Merit only

Awards not given

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