Karnataka wins big at 68th National Film Awards with Nadada Navaneeta

Karnataka won its first National Film Award with the Dr Venkatesh Kumar documentary Nadada Navaneeta. The Girish Kasaravalli directorial became the Best Art and Culture Film in the Non-Feature Film category.

On Friday the 68th National Film Awards were presented recently by President Draupadi Murmu at Vigyan Bhawan in New Delhi and the state of Karnataka got its first Rajat Kamal Award for their documentary film Nadada Navaneeta Pandit Dr Venkatesh Kumar. This year’s National Film Awards were announced in July.

Naadada Navaneeta is directed by Girish Kasaravalli.

Directed by Girish Kasaravalli, Nadada Navaneeta Pandit Dr Venkatesh Kumar won the Best Art and Culture Film in the Non-Feature Film category at the 68th National Film Awards 2020. It is backed by the Department of Information and Public Relations. The award was received by Dr Harsha Commissioner, IPR Karnataka who also made contributions to the film.

On this occasion, Karnataka Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai congratulated the film's team with his tweet. He wrote, “It is a proud moment that Nadda Navneeta Pandit Dr Venkatesh Kumar, a documentary made by the Department of Information and Public Relations, has been honoured with Rajat Kamal. I congratulate the entire team."

Besides this, this year veteran actor Asha Parekh was bestowed with the 52nd Dadasaheb Phalke Award. Ajay Devgn’s Tanhaji and Soorarai Pottru took home the Best Feature Film award. Suriya’s film also won two other categories at the 68th National Film Awards-- best actor, and best actress. Sachidanandan KR won the best director for the Malayalam film AK Ayyappanum Koshiyum posthumously.