Kangana Ranaut and Alia Bhatt top contenders for this year's National Film Awards: Report

The 69th National Film Awards will be announced on Thursday during a press conference by the Jury at the National Media Center, New Delhi. Many names are going around and the official announcement is awaited.

This year Alia Bhatt and Kangana Ranaut’s names are doing the rounds on social media as possible candidates for Best Actress for ‘Gangubai Kathiawadi’ and ‘Thalaivi’ respectively. Malayalam film ‘Nayattu’ or R Madhavan’s ‘Rocketry: The Nambi Effect’ are also said to be among the contenders. However, no official announcement has been made and it will be revealed on Thursday evening.

Last year the Best Actor Award for 2020 was shared between Suriya for ‘Soorarai Pottru’ and Ajay Devgn for the Hindi movie ‘Tanhaji: The Unsung Warrior’.

Actress Aparna Balamurali bagged the Best Actress award. Manoj Muntashir has won the award for Best Lyrics for the Hindi movie ‘Saina’.

Madhya Pradesh won the ‘Most Film Friendly State’ award while Uttarakhand and Uttar Pradesh got a Special Mention.

‘The Longest Kiss’ by Kishwar Desai won Best Book on Cinema for the year while the Malayalam book ‘MT Anunahvangalude Pusthakam’ and Odia book ‘Kali Paine Kalira Cinema’ won a special mention.

Gangubai Kathiawadi’s previous win of 10 Filmfare Awards

Reacting to the film’s big wins, Sanjay Leela Bhansali, “It’s a great moment for us. It’s a great day for us and I feel all our hard work has finally paid off. It’s a film we believed in and I’m very happy I made the film. I’m very happy Alia acted in the film and Ajay Devgn and all the other great actors who have acted in the film and all the technicians…it’s a very happy moment for all of us. We have worked all through the lockdown and COVID so it’s always special.”

After premiering at the 72nd Berlin International Film Festival, Sanjay Leela Bhansali’s ‘Gangubai Kathiawadi’ went on to become the first bonafide Hindi-language blockbuster in 2022.

Thalavi and Kangana Ranaut

In 2021, a day after Ranaut won her fourth National Film Award, the actor said though she takes interest in matters of national importance, she has “no connection with politics at all”.

Asked if she would join politics, Ranaut said issues related to the country affect her “directly” but that does mean she wants to take a political plunge.

“For me, the world of politics is quite unknown. If today I talk about the country, nationalism, farmers or laws which directly affect me, I’m told that I want to become a politician.

“It’s not like that. I react to everything as a citizen. I have no connection with politics, at all,” the actor said.

With added inputs from agencies