| 21st National Film Awards | |
|---|---|
 21st National Film Awards | |
| Awarded for | Best of Indian cinema in 1973 |
| Awarded by | Directorate of Film Festivals |
| Presented by | Indira Gandhi (Prime Minister of India) |
| Announced on | 20 July 1974 (1974-07-20) |
| Presented on | October 1974 (1974-10) |
| Site | Vigyan Bhavan,New Delhi |
| Official website | dff.nic.in |
| Highlights | |
| Best Feature Film | Nirmalyam |
| Dadasaheb Phalke Award | Ruby Myers |
| Most awards | • Ashani Sanket • Kaadu (3) |
The21stNational Film Awards, presented byDirectorate of Film Festivals, the organisation set up byMinistry of Information and Broadcasting, India to felicitate the best ofIndian Cinema released in the year 1973.[1] Ceremony took place in October 1974 and awards were given by Prime MinisterIndira Gandhi.
Prior to 21st National Film Awards, there used to be regional committees at Bombay (Mumbai), Calcutta (Kolkata) and Madras (Chennai), the recommendations of which were then considered by central committee. To avoid this long-winded process, regional committees were discarded.
Two different committees were formed for feature films and short films, headed byRomesh Thapar and S. K. Kooka respectively.[1]
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 asNational Film Award for Best Feature Film, whereas President's gold medal for the Best Documentary Film is analogous to today'sNational Film Award for Best Non-Feature Film. For children's films, Prime Minister's gold medal is now given asNational 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.
| Award | Image | Awardee(s) | Awarded As | Cash Prize |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Dadasaheb Phalke Award |  | Ruby Myers (Sulochana) | Actress | ₹20,000, a gold medal and a shawl |
Feature films were awarded at All India as well as regional level. For 21st National Film Awards, aMalayalam filmNirmalyam won thePresident's gold medal for the All India Best Feature Film; whereas aBengali filmAshani Sanket and aKannada filmKaadu won the maximum number of awards (three). Following were the awards given in each category:[1]
Following were the awards given:[1]
The awards were given to the best films made in theregional languages of India. For feature films inEnglish,Gujarati,Kashmiri,Meitei,Marathi,Oriya,Punjabi andTelugu language, President's silver medal for Best Feature Film was not given. The producer of the film was awarded with a silver medal and₹10,000, the director of the film was awarded with a silver medal and₹5,000, and leading actors were awarded with a souvenir.[1]
| Award | Film | Awardee(s) | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Producer | Director | Actor | Actress | ||
| Best Feature Film in Assamese | Mamta | Nalin Dowerah | Eva Achow | Rudra Baruah | Nalin Dowerah |
| Prafulla Dutta | |||||
| Shiba Thakur | |||||
| Best Feature Film in Bengali | Ashani Sanket | Sarbeni Bhattacharya | Satyajit Ray | Soumitra Chatterjee | Bobita |
| Best Feature Film in Hindi | 27 Down | Awatar Krishna Kaul | Awatar Krishna Kaul | M. K. Raina | Raakhee |
| Best Feature Film in Kannada | Abachurina Post Office | Patre C. Vinayak | N. Lakshminarayan | B. N. Narayan | Girija |
| Best Feature Film in Malayalam | Gayathri | A. R. Shreedharan Elayidom | P. N. Menon | V. Raghavan | Jayabharathi |
| P. B. Ashram | |||||
| Best Feature Film in Tamil | Dikkatra Parvathi | M/s Navatarang | Singeetam Srinivasa Rao | Srikanth | Lakshmi |
Following were the awards given:[1]
| Award | Film | Language | Awardee(s) | Cash Prize |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Best Information Film (Documentary) | The Flame Burns Bright | English | Producer: Ashish Mukherjee | Silver Medal and₹5,000 |
| Director: Ashish Mukherjee | ||||
| Best Educational / Instructional Film | Sath Kutch Na Jayega | Hindi | Producer: Dhiru Mistry | Silver Medal and₹5,000 |
| Director: Sureshwar Singh | ||||
| Best Film on Social Documentation | Land of Krishna | English | Producer: G. L. Bhardwaj | Silver Medal and₹5,000 |
| Director: G. L. Bhardwaj | ||||
| Best Promotional Film (Commercial) | Delhi the City Beautiful | English | Producer: Jagdish Banerjee | Silver Medal |
| Director: Jagdish Banerjee | ||||
| Best Promotional Film (Non-Commercial) | Fibre The Fabric of Life | English | Producer: Khadi and Village Industries Commission | Silver Medal |
| Director: G. L. Bhardwaj | ||||
| Best Experimental Film | Homi Bhabha - A Scientist in Action | English | Producer: Jagat Murari | Silver Medal and₹5,000 |
| Director: K. Vishwanath | Silver Medal and₹4,000 |
Following were the awards not given as no film was found to be suitable for the award:[1]