72nd National Film Awards 2026: Mammootty bags fourth National Award with ‘Bramayugam’; Article 370 ‘best feature film’
Yami Gautam wins ‘Best Actress in a Leading Role’ for ‘Article 370’; Kartik Aaryan earns his debut National Film Award for ‘Chandu Champion’
The 72nd National Film Awards were announced on Saturday (July 18, 2026), with the winners recognising excellence in feature films, non-feature films and writing on cinema across Indian languages. The awards honour films that received certification from the Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC) during the 2024 calendar year.
The 72nd National Film Awards have been announced. Mammootty shared the Best Actor award with Karthik Aryan for his performance in the film Bhramayugam. Mammootty won the Best Actor award for making Koduman Potty unforgettable in the film ‘Bhramayugam’ directed by Rahul Sadashivan. Karthik won the award for the film Chandu Champion. Feminichi Fathima is the Best Malayalam Film. The award for Best Film went to Article 370. Yami Gautam was adjudged the Best Actress for her performance in this film. Kalki 2898 AD is the Best Popular Film.
Vaikom Vijayalakshmi won the Best Playback Singer award. The award was given for the song ‘Aang Vanakonil’ from the film Ajayan’s Second Theft. The award for Best Cinematography went to Shehanad Jalal for Bhramayugat. In the non-feature film category, the Malayalam film ‘Bhadrakali Natak’ received a special jury mention. The best Tamil film was Raayan, directed by Dhanush. The Tamil films Meyyazhagan, starring Karthi and Aravind Swamy, and Captain Miller, starring Dhanush, received special jury mentions. Meyyazhagan won the award for Best Sound Mixing. The award for Best Background Music went to music director G.V. Prakash. The award for Best Director went to Rajkumar Periyasamy for the Tamil film Amaran.
The awards were announced at the National Media Centre. Malayalam director Jayaraj is the chairman of the jury. An 11-member jury, including Jayaraj, completed the award selection process for various Indian language films earlier this month. The films that were censored in 2024 were considered.
The acclaimed Tamil slice-of-life drama ‘Meiyazhagan’ gets a special mention for sound mixing. Yami Gautam, who acted in ‘Article 370’, was named the ‘Best Actress in a Leading Role’ while Malayalam superstar Mammootty and Kartik Aaryan shared the Best Actor award for their lead roles in ‘Bramayugam’ (Malayalam) and ‘Chandu Champion’ (Hindi) respectively.
Announcing the awards, chairman of the central jury Jayaraj said the Telugu movie “Kalki 2898 AD” bagged the trophy for best popular film for wholesome entertainment.
Major honours
- Best Feature Film: Article 370 — Aditya Suhas Jambhale
- Best Debut Film of a Director: Randeep Hooda for Swatantrya Veer Savarkar
- Best Popular Film Providing Wholesome Entertainment: Kalki: 2898 AD — Nag Ashwin
- Best Feature Film Promoting National, Social and Environmental Values: Captain Miller — Dhanush
- Best Children’s Film: Chinna Katha Kaadu
- Best Direction: Rajkumar Periasamy for Amaran
Acting awards
- Best Actor in a Leading Role: Kartik Aaryan for Chandu Champion and Mammootty for Bramayugam
- Best Actress in a Leading Role: Yami Gautam for Article 370
- Best Supporting Actor: Sanjay Mishra for Bhakshak
- Best Supporting Actress: Sachana Namidass for Maharaja and Rapshree Varkady for Mithya
- Best Child Artist: Riddhiman Banerjee, Tapomoy Deb, Gitashree Chakraborty, Arundev Pothula and Athish S Shetty
Music and writing awards
- Best Male Playback Singer: Abhay Jodhpurkar for “Gharat Ganpati” from Navasachi Gauri Mazi
- Best Female Playback Singer: Vaikom Vijayalakshmi for “Angu Vaana Konilu” from ARM
- Best Screenplay (Original): Sukumar for Pushpa: The Rule
- Best Screenplay (Adapted): Yogesh Deshpande for Swargandharva Sudhir Phadke
- Best Screenplay Dialogue: Venky Atluri for Lucky Bhaskhar
- Best Lyrics: Manoj Muntashir for “Jaane Do” from Maidaan
Technical awards
- Best Cinematography: Shehnad Jalal for Bramayugam
- Best Editing: Amaran — R Kalaivannan
- Best Production Designer: Kalki: 2898 AD — Nitin Zihani Choudhary
- Best Costume Designer: Pushpa: The Rule (Part 2) — Deepali Noor and Sheetal Sharma
- Best Make Up Artist: Committee Kurrollu — P Ravi Kumar
- Best Music Director: Article 370 — Shashwat Sachdev
- Best Music Direction: Amaran — GV Prakash Kumar
- Best Choreography: Stree 2 — Vijay Ganguly
- Best Action Direction: Maharaja — Anl Arasu
- Best Sound Design: Bhool Bhulaiyaa 3 — Manas Choudhary
Regional film winners
- Best Assamese Film: Juiphool — Jadumoni Dutta
- Best Bengali Film: Chalchitra Ekhon — Anjan Dutt
- Best Gujarati Film: Maaran — Abhishek Jain
- Best Hindi Film: Srikanth
- Best Kannada Film: Mithya — Sumanth Bhat
- Best Konkani Film: Mog Asum
- Best Malayalam Film: Feminichi Fathima — Fasil Muhammed
- Best Manipuri Film: Sunita — Yumnam Ajit Singh
- Best Marathi Film: Mukkam Post Bombilwadi — Paresh Mokashi
- Best Odia Film: Lahari — Amartya Bhattacharyya
- Best Tamil Film: Raayan — Dhanush
- Best Telugu Film: Committee Kurrollu — Yadhu Vamsee
- Best Garhwali Film: Dholi — Dinesh P Bhonsle
- Best Tulu Film: IMBU — Shivdhwaj Studio
Non-feature film winners
- Best Non-Feature Film promoting Social and Environmental Values: Piplantri: A Tale of Eco Feminism — Suraj Kumar
- Best Animation Film: Touched as Water — Joshy Benedict
- Best Short Film: Hamsafar
- Best Direction: Anand L Rai for Statue of Unity: Ekta Ka Prateek
- Best Cinematography: Life in Loom — Edmond Ranson
- Best Sound Design: Blue — TS Hari Hara Sudhan
- Best Editing: NDA — Manvir Jasrotia
- Best Music Direction: Parat 41°chya Magavar (On the Trail of 41°) — Shivpal Singh Kang
- Best Narrator: Little Planet: A Tale of Frogs — Soundarya Jayachandran
- Best Script: Obur (Clouds) — Faraz Ali
Special mentions
- Captain Miller — Dhanush
- Meiyazhagan
- Chola Dora aur Sui — Jaymin Modi and Lokesh Ghai
- Bhadra-Kali Natakam — Ananda Jyothi
The awards honoured films and artists across languages and categories, recognising achievements in feature films, non-feature films and writing on cinema. The awards considered films certified by the Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC) during the 2024 eligibility period.
