70th National Film Awards: Rishab Shetty wins ‘Best Actor’ award for ‘Kantara’

The winners of the 70th National Film Awards were declared on August 16. Honouring the best films and cinematic achievements of the year 2022, the awards were announced by the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting (I&B) at an event in New Delhi.

Malayalam superstar Mammootty, who was widely acclaimed for his 2022 releases ‘Nanpakal Nerathu Mayakkam’, ‘Bheeshma Parvam’ and ‘Rorschach’, was tipped as a top contender for ‘Best Actor’, alongside Kannada star Rishab Shetty (‘Kantara’) and Hindi film actor Vikrant Massey (‘12th Fail’), out of whom Rishab clinched the award.

The 70th National Film Awards recognises films certified by the censor board between January 1 and December 31, 2022. The winners will be felicitated by President Droupadi Murmu in a ceremony in October 2024.

The feature films were awarded by a panel of juries, which includes Dilip Kumar Pandey, Dr Anurag Singh, Yatindra Mishra, Subhajit Mitra, Amol Bhave and RV Udayakumar.

Winners of the 70th National Film Awards

Best Feature Film: ‘Aattam’

Best Debut Film of a Director: ‘Fouja’

Best Direction: Sooraj R Barjatya (‘Uunchai’)

Best Popular Film Providing Wholesome Entertainment: ‘Kantara’

Best Feature Film Promoting National, Social and Environmental Values: ‘Kutch Express’

Best Film in AVGC: ‘Brahmastra: Part 1 - Shiva’

Best Actor in a Leading Role: Rishabh Shetty (‘Kantara’)

Best Actress in a Leading Role: Nithya Menon (‘Thiruchitrambhalam’) and Manasi Parekh (‘Kutch Express’)

Best Supporting Actor: Pavan Raj Malhotra (‘Fouja’)

Best Supporting Actress: Neena Gupta (‘Uunchai’)

Best Child Artist: Sreepath (‘Malikappuram’)

Best Cinematography: Ravi Varmam (‘Ponniyin Selvan 1’)

Best Screenplay: Anand Ekarshi (‘Aattam’)

Best Dialogue Writer: Arpita Mukherjee and Rahul V Chittela (‘Gulmohar’)

Best Production Design: Ananda Addhya (‘Aparajito’)

Best Action Choreography: Anbariv (‘KGF - Chapter 2’)

Best Make-Up Artist: Somnath Kundu (‘Aparajito’)

Best Costume Design: Niki Joshi (‘Kutch Express’)

Best Music Direction for Songs: Pritam (‘Brahmastra: Part 1 - Shiva’)

Best Music Direction for Background Scores: AR Rahman (‘Ponniyin Selvan 2’)

Best Lyrics: Naushad Sadar Khan (‘Salaami’ in ‘Fouja’)

Best Male Playback Singer: Arijit Singh (‘Kesariya’ from ‘Brahmastra: Part 1 - Shiva’)

Best Female Playback Singer: Bombay Jayashri (‘Chaayum Veyil’ from ‘Saudi Vellakka’)

Best Choreography: Jani Master and Sathish Krishnan (‘Megham Karukatha’ in ‘Thiruchitrambalam’)

Best Sound Design: Anand Krishnamoorthy (‘Ponniyin Selvan - Part 1’)

Best Editing: Mahesh Bhuvanend (‘Aattam’)

Special Jury Award: Manoj Bajpayee (‘Gulmohar’) and Sanjoy Chowdhury (‘Kadhikan’)

Best Feature Film in Assamese: ‘Emuthi Puthi’ by Kulanandini Mahanta

Best Feature Film in Bengali: ‘Kaberi Antardhan’ by Kaushik Gangula

Best Feature Film in Hindi: ‘Gulmohar’ by Rahul V Chittella

Best Feature Film in Kannada: ‘KGF - Chapter 2’ by Prashanth Neel

Best Feature Film in Malayalam: ‘Saudi Vellakka’ by Tharun Moorthy

Best Critic: Deepak Dua

Best Book on Cinema: ‘Kishore Kumar: The Ultimate Biography’