The 69th National Film Awards were announced on Thurday, honouring the best in Indian cinema from 2021. Among the big winners of the night were films like RRR, Gangubai Kathiawadi, and Sardar Udham, each of which won five awards. This took Gangubai director Sanjay Leela Bhansali’s tally of National Awards to seven, a comendable number. But surprisingly, he is way behind the person with the most National Award wins – a whopping 35.
Person with the most National Film Award wins
Legendary filmmaker Satyajit Ray is the man with the most number of National Film Awards, a bit unsurprisingly. Renowned as perhaps the greatest Indian filmmaking, Ray put Indian cinema on the map globally, winning honours internationally as well as back home. He won two National Awards for his debut film Pather Panchali and continued to win over the next 40 years, winning his final award for Best Screenplay in 1994 for Uttoran.
Satyajit Ray’s National Award wins
Of Ray’s 35 National Awards, six are for Best Director while others are for Best Film, Screenplay, Editing and various other categories. His six Best Director wins are a record as well. His 1974 film Sonar Kella won a then-record six National Awards, including three for Ray – Best Director, Best Screenplay, and Best Feature Film in Bengali. Nine of his films won Best Feature Film in Bengali while six also won the Best Feature Film award. He also won the award for Best Children’s Film (for Joi Baba Felunath in 1978) and Best Documentary (for the Inner Eye in 1972). Ray won several international awards at all major film festivals but the two awards the eluded him were the Oscars and BAFTA. None of his films could ever secure on Oscar nomination. Three of his films were nominated at the BAFTA Awards (all three from the Apu trilogy) but neither could win.
Other major National Award winners
Among actors, Shabana Azmi has won five National Awards, while Mohanlal, Amitabh Bachchan, and Kangana Ranaut have four each. Yesudas won six awards for playback singing. But at the second place behind Satyajit Ray is filmmaker Adoor Gopalakrishnan with 17 National Film Awards. Of his wins, four are for Best Director, while others include prizes for Best Film, Screenplay, and even Best Book on Cinema.
