National Film Awards: Ahead of announcement,10 member jury submits report to Anurag Thakur

With just a few hours left for the announcement of the 68th National Film Awards, a 10-member jury led by filmmaker Vipul Shah met Union Minister Anurag Thakur. The National Film Awards are all set to be announced today evening in the national capital in a ceremony, which is being held after a gap of two years due to the sudden outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Filmmaker Vipul Shah-led jury meets Anurag Thakur ahead of National Film Awards

The entire jury met the I&B minister on Friday morning, ahead of the announcement in the evening to submit its report on the 68th National Film Awards. 

Sharing his happiness and speaking about the awards, Thakur told ANI, "I want to congratulate all the jury members and all those people whose work was reviewed and would like to congratulate those recipients who will be awarded the National Film Awards. A word of appreciation for everyone who has done an outstanding job." 

 

Further, he added, "I am glad that after two years because of COVID, we could not hold the awards. This year, we will be holding the 68 National Film Awards." Apart from Shah, the other notable members of the jury included cinematographer Dharam Gulati, National award-winning Bengali actor Sreelekha Mukherjee, cinematographer GS Bhaskar, A Karthikraaja, VN Aditya, Viji Thampi, Sanjeev Rattan, S Thangadurai and Nishigandha. 

As per ANI, sources say that more than 295 films reached the elimination stage and the jury has finally reviewed 66 films in the feature section. On the other hand, Vipul explained how the entire jury had a tough time selecting a film amid such hard times where filmmakers really struggled hard to make a project. 

Talking about the same, he told ANI, “It has been heartening to see the kind of response that was received and the number of films that we got to see. And these were very difficult COVID times during which these films were either made or being made." 

Chitrartha Singh who is heading the non-feature jury stated, "We have been able to review close to 140 non-feature films including documentaries and it is amazing to see the kind of content that has come forth, especially from areas like the north-east."

With several great films to have released last year, fans can expect Pushpa: The Rise and SS Rajamouli's RRR, Surya's Jai Bhim, Vicky Kaushal starrer Sardar Udham Singh & Sidharth Malhotra's Shershaah among others to possibly get recognition through the awards. 

IMAGE: Twitter/@ianuragthakur