Committee for Rationalisation of Film Awards renames ‘Indira’ and ‘Nargis’ awards from the National Film Awards
Committee for Rationalisation of Film Awards renames ‘Indira’ and ‘Nargis’ awards from the National Film Awards
In a new development, the ‘Indira Gandhi Award for Best Debut Film of a Director’ and the ‘Nargis Dutt Award for Best Feature Film on National Integration’, part of the National Film Awards, have been renamed on the recommendation of the Committee for Rationalisation of Film Awards.
As per reports, the committee recommended that the ‘Indira Gandhi Award for Best Debut Film of a Director’ be renamed as ‘Best Debut Film of a Director’, and the award money be increased to Rs 3 lakh.
It also recommended that the ‘Nargis Dutt Award for Best Feature Film on National Integration’ be renamed as ‘Best Feature Film Promoting National, Social and Environmental Values’.
This award carries a Rajat Kamal to the director and the producer with Rs 1.5 lakh each. The committee recommended that it be clubbed with ‘Best Film on Social Issues and Best Film on Environment Conservation/Preservation’. The award amount has been increased to Rs 2 lakh each to the director and producer.
The Dadasaheb Phalke Award has increased from Rs 10 lakh to Rs 15 lakh, the newspaper reported.
The rationalisation committee was headed by Neerja Sekhar, additional secretary in the Information and Broadcasting ministry. It included filmmakers Priyadarshan, Vipul Shah, Haobam Paban Kumar, Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC) chief Prasoon Joshi, cinematographer S Nallamuthu as well as I&B joint secretary Prithul Kumar and the ministry’s director (finance) Kamlesh Kumar Sinha, reported the Indian Express.
A member of the Committee on
anonymity deliberated on the changes amidst the pandemic. The decision to make these changes was ultimately unanimous,.
Other changes include the creation of a new category called ‘Best AVGC Film’, which combines the Best Animation Film and Best Special Effects categories.
Awards for Best Actor, Actress, Supporting Actor, and Supporting Actress have been renamed and the prize money increased. Additionally, changes have been made to categories such as Best Audiography and Best Music Director.
“The Best Actor award (Rajat Kamal with Rs 50,000) has been renamed as ‘Best Actor in a Leading Role’ (Rajat Kamal and Rs 2 lakh); and the Best Actress (Rajat Kamal with Rs 50,000) to ‘Best Actress in a Leading Role’ (Rajat Kamal with Rs 2 lakh). As recommended, the Best Supporting Actor award (Rajat Kamal with Rs 50,000) has been titled ‘Best Actor in Supporting Role’ (Rajat Kamal with Rs 2 lakh) and the Best Supporting Actress award to ‘Best Actress in a Supporting Role’ (Rajat Kamal with Rs 2 lakh), the daily reported.
In the Best Audiography category, the three sub-categoriesn – Location Sync Sound Recordist (for sync sound only), Sound Designer, and Recordist of the Final Mixed Track – have been combined and rebranded as ‘Best Sound Design’ (with a Rajat Kamal award of Rs 2 lakh for the sound designer). Similarly, the sub-categories of Best Music Director (Background Music) and Best Music Director (Background Score) have been merged into ‘Music Director (Background Music)‘ (with a Rajat Kamal award of Rs 2 lakh).
The award for ‘Best Feature Film in each of the language specified in the Schedule VIII of the Constitution’ has been renamed as ‘Best (name of the language) Feature Film’, and the award money doubled to Rs 2 lakh each.
Similar changes have been made to the ‘Feature Film in each of the languages other than those specified in Schedule VIII of the Constitution’ category.
The committee recommended giving only one award per category, with shared awards given only under exceptional circumstances to maintain the prestige of the awards. Uniform cash awards have been set at Rs 3 lakh for Swarna Kamal winners and Rs 2 lakh for Rajat Kamal winners.
The 70th edition of the awards will be held this year. The entries for this edition were sought on the basis of the recommendations of the committee.
News Edit K.V.Raman
