# 16th National Film Awards

The 16th National Film Awards, presented by Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, India to felicitate the best of Indian Cinema released in 1968. Ceremony took place at Vigyan Bhavan, New Delhi on 13 February 1970.
With 16th National Film Awards, three new awards were introduced, mainly for Best Film on Family Welfare, Best Child Artist and Best Film Lyric Writer. Moreover, for male and female singers, awards were differentiated with Best Male Playback Singer and Best Female Playback Singer respectively.

## Juries

Six different committees were formed based on the film making sectors in India, mainly based in Bombay, Calcutta and Madras along with the award categories. Another committee for all India level was also formed which included some of the members from regional committee. For 16th National Film Awards, central committee was headed by Justice G. D. Khosla.
* Jury Members: Central
** G. D. Khosla (Chairperson) • Sitaram Kesri • Sheila Bhatia • A. C. Jalan • Ezra Mir • B. K. Karanjia • Teji Bachchan • I. S. Johar • Haridas Bhattacharjee • U. Visweswar Rao • Sunder Lal Nahata • M. N. Kapur
* Jury Members: Documentary
** D. K. Borooah (Chairperson) • Shambu Mitra • Mrinalini Sarabhai • G. G. Swell • Shanta Gandhi
* Jury Members: Short Films
** Piloo Mody (Chairperson) • Balwant Gargi • Amita Malik • R. G. Anand • Inder Lal Das
* Jury Regional: Bombay
** Nissim Ezekiel (Chairperson) • Urmila Kapur • Navin Khandwalla • R. S. Pande • Firoze Rangoonwalla • Bikram Singh • Bal Chhabda • Shatrujit Paul • Buny Talwar • G. P. Shirke
* Jury Regional: Calcutta
** Amala Shankar (Chairperson) • Roma Choudhry • Chintamoni Kar • K. C. Panigrahi • A. K. Pramanick • Utpal Dutta • Kanan Devi • Kartic Chatterjee • Durgadas Mitra
* Jury Regional: Madras
** C. R. Pattabhiraman (Chairperson) • P. Achutha Menon • R. K. Narayan • Mallikarjuna Rao • Sarojini Varadappan • K. Manoharan • Rajammal Anantharaman • V. C. Subburaman • D. V. S. Raju • B. Ananthaswami

## Awards

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 as National Film Award for Best Feature Film, whereas President's Gold Medal for the Best Documentary Film is analogous to today's National Film Award for Best Non-Feature Film. For children's films, Prime Minister's Gold Medal is now given as National 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.

### Feature films

Feature films were awarded at All India as well as regional level. For 16th National Film Awards, a Bengali film Goopy Gyne Bagha Byne won the President's Gold Medal for the All India Best Feature Film, with also winning the maximum number of awards (two); along with two Hindi films, Aashirwad and Saraswatichandra with a Malayalam film, Thulabharam and a Tamil film, Thillaanaa Mohanambal. Following were the awards given in each category:

#### All India Award

Following were the awards given:
| Award | Film | Language | Awardee(s) | Cash Prize |
| Best Feature Film | Goopy Gyne Bagha Byne | Bengali | Producer: Nepal Dutta | Gold Medal and ₹20,000 |
| Best Feature Film | Goopy Gyne Bagha Byne | Bengali | Producer: Asim Dutta | Gold Medal and ₹20,000 |
| Best Feature Film | Goopy Gyne Bagha Byne | Bengali | Director: Satyajit Ray | ₹5,000 and a plaque |
| Second Best Feature Film | Thulabharam | Malayalam | Producer: M/s. Supriya Pictures | ₹5,000 and a medal |
| Second Best Feature Film | Thulabharam | Malayalam | Director: A. Vincent | ₹2,000 and a plaque |
| Best Film on Family Welfare | Anchal Ke Phool | Hindi | Producer: M. R. Seth | ₹5,000 and a medal |
| Best Film on Family Welfare | Anchal Ke Phool | Hindi | Director: Karunesh Thakur | ₹2,000 and a plaque |
| Best Feature Film on National Integration | Janmabhoomi | Malayalam | Producer: M/s. Roopa Rekha | ₹5,000 and a medal |
| Best Feature Film on National Integration | Janmabhoomi | Malayalam | Director: John Sankaramangalam | ₹2,000 and a plaque |
| Best Children's Film | Heerer Prajapati | Bengali | Producer: Children's Film Society | ₹7,500 and a medal |
| Best Children's Film | Heerer Prajapati | Bengali | Director: Shanti P. Chowdhury | ₹2,500 and a plaque |
| Best Actor (Bharat Award) | Aashirwad | Hindi | Ashok Kumar | A figurine |
| Best Actress (Urvashi Award) | Thulabharam | Malayalam | Sharada | A figurine |
| Best Child Artist | Kuzhanthaikkaga | Tamil | Baby Rani | A plaque |
| Best Direction | Goopy Gyne Bagha Byne | Bengali | Satyajit Ray | ₹ 5,000 and a plaque |
| Best Music Direction | Saraswatichandra | Hindi | Kalyanji Anandji | ₹ 5,000 and a plaque |
| Best Male Playback Singer | Mere Huzoor (For the song "Jhanak Jhanak Tori Baaje") | Hindi | Manna Dey | A plaque |
| Best Female Playback Singer | Uyarndha Manithan | Tamil | P. Susheela | A plaque |
| Lyric Writer of the Best Film Song on National Integration | Kuzhanthaikkaga (For the song "Devan Vanthaan") | Tamil | Kannadasan | A plaque |
| Best Screenplay | Anokhi Raat | Hindi | Pandit Anand Kumar | ₹5,000 |
| Best Cinematography (Black and White) | Saraswatichandra | Hindi | Nariman A. Irani | ₹5,000 and a plaque |
| Best Cinematography (Color) | Thillaanaa Mohanambal | Tamil | K. S. Prasad | ₹5,000 and a plaque |

#### Regional Award

The awards were given to the best films made in the regional languages of India. For feature films in Assamese, English, Gujarati, Kashmiri and Punjabi language, President's Silver Medal for Best Feature Film was not given. The producer and director of the film were awarded with ₹5,000 and a Silver medal, respectively.
| Award | Film | Awardee(s) | Awardee(s) |
| Award | Film | Producer | Director |
| Best Feature Film in Bengali | Apanjan | R. N. Malhotra | Tapan Sinha |
| Best Feature Film in Bengali | Apanjan | R. K. Kapur | Tapan Sinha |
| Best Feature Film in Bengali | Apanjan | T. M. Shah | Tapan Sinha |
| Best Feature Film in Hindi | Aashirwad | N. C. Sippy | Hrishikesh Mukherjee |
| Best Feature Film in Hindi | Aashirwad | Hrishikesh Mukherjee | Hrishikesh Mukherjee |
| Best Feature Film in Kannada | Mannina Maga | M. V. Venkatachallam | Geethapriya |
| Best Feature Film in Kannada | Mannina Maga | P. Alexander | Geethapriya |
| Best Feature Film in Malayalam | Adhyapika | M/s. Neela Productions | P. Subramaniam |
| Best Feature Film in Marathi | Ektee | G. Chaugle | Raja Thakur |
| Best Feature Film in Oriya | Stree | Parbati Ghose | Sidhartha |
| Best Feature Film in Tamil | Thillaanaa Mohanambal | Vijayalakshmi | A. P. Nagarajan |
| Best Feature Film in Telugu | Varakatnam | N. Trivikrama Rao | N. T. Rama Rao |

### Non-Feature films

Following were the awards given:

#### Short films

| Award | Film | Language | Awardee(s) | Cash Prize |
| Best Information Film (Documentary) | Everest | English | Producer: Arun Chowdhury for Films Division | ₹5,000 and a medal |
| Best Information Film (Documentary) | Everest | English | Director: N. S. Thapa | ₹2,000 and a plaque |
| Best Educational / Instructional Film | Forest and The Man | English | Producer: K. L. Khandpur for Films Division | ₹5,000 and a medal |
| Best Educational / Instructional Film | Forest and The Man | English | Director: Neil Gokhale | ₹2,000 and a plaque |
| Best Educational / Instructional Film | Forest and The Man | English | Director: P. B. Pendharkar | ₹2,000 and a plaque |
| Best Film on Social Documentation | Water | English | Producer: M/s. Fali Billmoria Productions | ₹5,000 and a medal |
| Best Film on Social Documentation | Water | English | Director: Fali Billmoria | ₹2,000 and a plaque |
| Best Experimental Film | And I Make Short Films | English | Producer: K. L. Khandpur for Films Division | ₹5,000 and a medal |
| Best Experimental Film | And I Make Short Films | English | Director: S. N. S. Sastry | ₹2,000 and a plaque |
| Best Animation Film | Nag Aur Kauwa | Hindi | Producer: Children's Film Society | ₹5,000 and a medal |
| Best Animation Film | Nag Aur Kauwa | Hindi | Director: S. B. Nayampally | ₹2,000 and a plaque |

### Awards not given

Following were the awards not given as no film was found to be suitable for the award:
* Best Story Writer
* Best Promotional Film
* President's Silver Medal for Best Feature Film in Assamese
* President's Silver Medal for Best Feature Film in English
* President's Silver Medal for Best Feature Film in Punjabi