Vidhu Vinod Chopra’s 12th Fail, which captures a young man’s journey to become an IPS officer, was adjudged the best feature film at the 71st National Film Awards for 2023 announced on Friday.
The film’s lead actor, Vikrant Massey, shared the best actor award with Shah Rukh Khan, who won for his double role of a father and a son in the action film Jawan. This is Shah Rukh’s first National Award in his glittering multi-decade career.
The award for the best actress in a leading role went to Rani Mukerji for her portrayal of a mother fighting for her children in Mrs. Chatterjee V/s Norway. This is the prolific veteran’s first National Award as well.
Mukerji, 47, said: “ For me, this award is also a validation of my 30-year body of work, my dedication to my craft with which I feel a deeply spiritual connection…”
The jury, headed by filmmaker Ashutosh Gowariker, praised Massey’s performance as one with “raw honesty and emotional depth”.
Gowarikar also said Shah Rukh’s first national award “after such a long and prolific career” was “historic”.
Massey, 38, said it was a dream come true moment for him. “It is a privilege to be sharing my first National Award with an icon like Shah Rukh Khan,” he said.
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While best direction went to The Kerala Story by Sudipto Sen, Karan Johar took home the award for ‘best popular film providing wholesome entertainment’ for Rocky Aur Rani Kii Prem Kahaani.
Asked about the award for The Kerala Story, which had sparked controversy, Gowarikar said: “It’s a difficult topic, and to convey that with this kind of clarity is something that we as a jury felt was the need to applaud.”
The film also won best choreography for Dhindhora Baje Re, choreographed by Vaibhavi Merchant. Meghna Gulzar’s Sam Bahadur, a biographical war drama on the life and times of India’s first Field Marshal Sam Manekshaw, won ‘best feature film promoting national, social, and environmental values’.
Shilpa Rao won best female playback singer for Chaliya from Jawan and P V N S Rohit won best male playback singer for Premisthunna from the Telugu film Baby.
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Sachin Sudhakaran won best sound design for Animal. The Ranbir Kapoor-starring film shared the award for best music direction (Harshavardhan Rameshwar) with the Tamil film Vaathi (G V Prakash Kumar).
While the Sanya Malhotra-starrer comedy Kathal: A Jackfruit Mystery won best feature in Hindi language, the award for best screenplay was shared between Baby (Telugu), Parking (Tamil) and Sirf Ek Bandaa Kaafi Hai (Hindi).
The Telugu film Hanu-Man, a pan-Indian hit, bagged the awards in the best film in AVGC (animation, visual effects, gaming & comic) and best action direction categories.
The awards for the supporting roles, both actor and actress, were swept by non-Hindi cinema. While the former was shared by Vijayaraghavan for Pookkaalam (Malayalam) and M S Bhaskar for Parking (Tamil), the latter went to both Urvashi for Ullozhukku (Malayalam) and Janki Bodiwala for Vash (Gujarati).
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The winners were chosen from a total of 332 feature film entries, 115 non-feature film entries, 27 book entries, and 16 critics’ entries.
