# 25th National Film Awards

The 25th National Film Awards, presented by Directorate of Film Festivals, the organisation set up by Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, India to felicitate the best of Indian Cinema released in the year 1977. Ceremony took place on 27 April 1978.

## Juries

Two different committees were formed for feature films and short films, headed by Ebrahim Alkazi and Ashok Mitra respectively.
* Jury Members: Feature Films
** Ebrahim Alkazi (Chairperson) • Thakazhi Sivasankara Pillai • Adya Rangacharya • Ka. Naa. Subramanyam • Sundari K. Shridharani
** Firoze Rangoonwalla • Rita Ray (Kobita Sarkar) • N. S. Ramachandran • K. M. Almadi • K. S. Duggal • Raghuveer Chaudhari
** Allauddin Khan • Swapan Mullick • A. Viswam • R. D. Mathur • M. K. Raina
* Jury Members: Short Films
** Ashok Mitra (Chairperson) • M. N. Kapur • Kapila Vatsyayan • R. N. Pande

## Awards

Awards were divided into feature films and non-feature films.

### Lifetime Achievement Award

| Name of Award | Image | Awardee(s) | Awarded As | Awards |
| Dadasaheb Phalke Award | | Nitin Bose | Cinematographer, Director and Screenwriter | Swarna Kamal, ₹40,000 and a Shawl |

### Feature films

Feature films were awarded at All India as well as regional level. For 25th National Film Awards, a Kannada film, Ghatashraddha won the President's Gold Medal for the All India Best Feature Film also winning the maximum number of awards (three). Following were the awards given in each category:

#### All India Award

Following were the awards given:
| Name of Award | Name of Film | Language | Awardee(s) | Cash Prize |
| Best Feature Film | Ghatashraddha | Kannada | Producer: Sadanand Suvarna | Swarna Kamal and ₹40,000 |
| Best Feature Film | Ghatashraddha | Kannada | Director: Girish Kasaravalli | Rajat Kamal and ₹20,000 |
| Citation: For lifting the creative cinema of that region to new levels of artistic excellence, for delicacy of treatment and subtle use of the film medium, for the shifting perspective through which the tragic solution is revealed, for projecting the painful, tremulous transition from innocence to experience, for searing intellectual honesty, for the fusion of all the elements into a form so distinctive as to declare it a masterpiece. ||||
| Best Feature Film with Mass Appeal, Wholesome Entertainment and Aesthetic Value | Swami | Hindi | Producer: Jaya Charavarthy | Swarna Kamal |
| Best Feature Film with Mass Appeal, Wholesome Entertainment and Aesthetic Value | Swami | Hindi | Director: Basu Chatterjee | Rajat Kamal |
| Citation: For a taut script, for restrained, mature and dignified performances (especially by Girish Karnad), for meticulous attention to detail, for maintaining the spirit of the original story and translating it into the film medium with effectiveness and grace, for giving an old theme a contemporary relevance, for providing that it is possible to make a film with popular appeal without surrendering psychological truth or artistic values. ||||
| Best Children's Film | Safed Haathi | Hindi | Producer: R. A. Jalan, Pratap Agarwal | Swarna Kamal and ₹15,000 |
| Best Children's Film | Safed Haathi | Hindi | Director: Tapan Sinha | Rajat Kamal and ₹10,000 |
| Citation: For a film with which a quiet realism evokes the fascination and mystery of the jungle; for its mature emphasis on the harmonious relationship between man and nature; for the personal empathy portrayed between a child and creatures of the forest; for a story of lyrical charm and gripping adventure which educates even as it entertains children and grown-ups alike. ||||
| Best Direction | Kanchana Sita | Malayalam | G. Aravindan | Rajat Kamal and ₹20,000 |
| Citation: For its courageous and uncompromising exploration of an ancient epic through a pronouncedly new cinematic language, for making the camera speak more eloquently than the introspective characters of the Ramayana, for projecting the interior landscape of the protagonists against the vast backdrop of nature, for matching profound philosophical ideas with astonishing evocations of the beauties of the physical world. ||||
| Best Screenplay | Bhumika | Hindi | • Satyadev Dubey • Shyam Benegal • Girish Karnad | Rajat Kamal and ₹10,000 |
| Citation: For powerfully recreating the biography of an actress, for its rare, psychological insights and understanding of human relationships, for the complex integration of theme, style and dramatic situation into an engrossing whole, which provokes the spectator into a new awareness of the predicament of the working woman in Indian society. ||||
| Best Actor | Kodiyettam | Malayalam | Gopi | Rajat Kamal and ₹10,000 |
| Citation: For an uncanny, truthful and subtle portrayal of a nondescript village character, carrying almost imperceptibly his slow inner transformation through normal tribulations of life into new awakening of consciousness, of feeling and of responsibility, for the artless unfolding of character which is evidence of acting ability of high aesthetic order. ||||
| Best Actress | Bhumika | Hindi | Smita Patil | Rajat Kamal and ₹10,000 |
| Citation: For a brilliantly sustained performance, powerful and impassioned, of a complex unconventional character; for the poignant portrayal of a confused woman, harassed, importuned and exploited by the men in her life, driven into a bitter self-questioning loneliness; for vividly drawing the dual roles of woman and actress, the private life and public visage; with rare sensibility and discrimination and a perpetual sense of the ironic. ||||
| Best Child Artist | Ghatashraddha | Kannada | Ajit Kumar | Rajat Kamal and ₹5,000 |
| Citation: For depicting with rare sensitivity, a child's growth into awareness of the coarseness and brutality of the adult world, for his silent struggle to retain his innocence and his natural sense of justice; for his poetic evocation of the child's response to the slowly unfolding mysteries of life, the trivial, the brutal and tragic being inextricable elements of human experience. ||||
| Best Music Direction | Ghatashraddha | Kannada | B. V. Karanth | Rajat Kamal and ₹10,000 |
| Citation: For employing the resources of sacred and folk music with unerring skill and sensitivity so as to create an atmosphere of subdued pain and loneliness and to lead the poignant theme to its tragic denouement through the tortured process of its unfolding; for the modulation of effects in terms of sound, covering music in all its variegated range within their span, for heightening the mood in each sequence, almost imperceptibly; for creating art at its concealed best. ||||
| Best Male Playback Singer | Hum Kisise Kum Naheen | Hindi | Mohammed Rafi | Rajat Kamal and ₹10,000 |
| Citation: For a golden voice, with resonant timbre and charm, highly cultivated to convey the nuances of melodies based on classical and light classical ragas with as much ease and felicity as tunes set to the lilt of light music; for the sheer brilliance of form and content in his powerful interpretations; for a distinctive personal style. ||||
| Best Female Playback Singer | Pathinaru Vayathinile ("Senthoora Poove") | Tamil | S. Janaki | Rajat Kamal and ₹10,000 |
| Citation: For purity of diction and melodic excellence; for emotive suggestiveness and lyrical appeal; for a quality of expression which is intensely moving; for rendering the theme song "Senthoora Poove" with deep feeling, reflecting the romantic dreams of youth, slowly merging into the shadows of tragic destiny. ||||
| Best Cinematography (Black and White) | Kokila | Kannada | Balu Mahendra | Rajat Kamal and ₹5,000 |
| Citation: For smooth, crisp and immaculate camera work; for the clear, sensitive and discreet portrayal of beings in the first flush of youth; for seizing with a certain lyrical grace their romantic yearnings, their gay abandon, their zest and effervescence, their charming narcissism; for using the camera creatively to project their languid world of gossamer dreams out of which they are roused by the bitter harshness of reality. ||||
| Best Cinematography (Color) | Shatranj Ke Khilari | Hindi | Soumendu Roy | Rajat Kamal and ₹5,000 |
| Citation: For capturing in meticulous detail the opulent splendor of the court of Wajid Ali Shah; for using colour with discrimination and taste to evoke the distinctive decadent flavor of the period and to provide psychological insights into the characters; for projecting the action through a framework of shifting perspectives, thereby providing a movable feast for the eyes, for establishing by pointed contrast the somber hues and subdued functionalism of the environment of General Outram, emphasising by such means the furtive manoeuvring for power; for using the camera to create a visual tapestry, rich in the clash of conflicting events, ideologies and responsibilities. ||||
| Best Sound Recording | Godhuli | Hindi | S. P. Ramanathan | Rajat Kamal and ₹5,000 |
| Citation: For recording great clarity and precision, creating a beautifully modulated tone poem of the various elements; of human speech, of atmospheric effects, of natural sound and vision which makes one live within the film; for superb technical quality which helps to enhance the meaning and impact of a thought-provoking film. ||||
| Best Editing | Inkaar | Hindi | • Waman Bhonsle • Gurudutt Shirali | Rajat Kamal and ₹5,000 |
| Citation: For thrilling sequences which are evidence of extraordinary editorial virtuosity, establishing pace and tempo, brilliantly orchestrated in relation to the swift, suspenseful action; for cutting and montage of such dexterous facility as to conceal the skill which enables the dramatic power to explode across the screen from time to time with stunning impact. ||||

#### Regional Award

The awards were given to the best films made in the regional languages of India. For feature films in Bengali, English, Hindi, Kashmiri, Meitei and Punjabi, award for Best Feature Film was not given.
| Name of Award | Name of Film | Awardee(s) | Awards |
| Best Feature Film in Assamese | Sandhyarag | Producer and Director: Bhabendra Nath Saikia | Rajat Kamal and ₹10,000 |
| Citation: For investing a simple, almost uneventful story with tragic poignancies, for presenting the intense loneliness and sense of longing of the individual uprooted from village life by eternal economic pressures and cast back into the stagnation and grinding poverty of rural existence by a society which, having used him up; now discards him; for portraying the characters with subtlety and insight and a quiet wry humor lacerating in its irony - all this through actors facing the camera for the first time. |||
| Best Feature Film in Hindi | Shatranj Ke Khilari | Producer: Suresh Jindal | Rajat Kamal and ₹10,000 |
| Best Feature Film in Hindi | Shatranj Ke Khilari | Director: Satyajit Ray | Rajat Kamal and ₹5,000 |
| Citation: For the skilful juxtaposing and interweaving of two parallel destinies, the personal and the political; for the setting these against the decadent splendor of the court of Avadh, recreated with a sense of great pictorial beauty and musical charm; for presenting vividly the clash of two cultures, irreconcilable in their distinctive views of the world; for performances of remarkable depth and range, true to the style and flavor of the period. |||
| Best Feature Film in Kannada | Tabbaliyu Neenade Magane | Producer: B.M. Venkatesh, Chandulal Jain | Rajat Kamal and ₹10,000 |
| Best Feature Film in Kannada | Tabbaliyu Neenade Magane | Director: Girish Karnad, B. V. Karanth | Rajat Kamal and ₹5,000 |
| Citation: For exploring the conflict between tradition and change in an Indian and Western cultures, for employing the symbol of the sacred cow as a bridge between two civilisations, for the bucolic charm projected through the film's austere setting and particularly through the behaviour of its elderly characters. |||
| Best Feature Film in Malayalam | Kodiyettam | Producer: Kulathoor Bhaskaran Nair | Rajat Kamal and ₹10,000 |
| Best Feature Film in Malayalam | Kodiyettam | Director: Adoor Gopalakrishnan | Rajat Kamal and ₹5,000 |
| Citation: For capturing with an unerring eye for detail the trivia of village life; for presenting through its calculated pace and rhythm a true slice of a rural culture in Kerala; for revealing through seemingly insignificant vignettes the gradual transformation of a casual village drifter into a person of genuine worth and true dignity. |||
| Best Feature Film in Marathi | Jait Re Jait | Producer: Usha Mangeshkar | Rajat Kamal and ₹10,000 |
| Best Feature Film in Marathi | Jait Re Jait | Director: Jabbar Patel | Rajat Kamal and ₹5,000 |
| Citation: For consistently transferring to the film medium a successful fictional work (Thakurwadi by G. N. Dandekar); for high lightening the mutual inconsistencies of love, of the fear of God and of superstition in a simple, innocent community of tribal, for the memorable use of the drum in evoking presence of the God and expressing the inexorable demands of love for a cinematic form which captures the lyricism, the cadence and the lilt of folk culture. |||
| Best Feature Film in Oriya | Chilika Teerey | Producer: Shyamghan Rai Chaudhari | Rajat Kamal and ₹10,000 |
| Best Feature Film in Oriya | Chilika Teerey | Director: Biplab Rai Chaudhari | Rajat Kamal and ₹5,000 |
| Citation: For showing how, brutally oppressed by vested socio-economical interests, but now inspired by a new sense of freedom the fisher folk of Chilka lake cast off the shackles of the past and achieve their liberation for presenting with understanding and compassion the conflict between individual needs and the welfare of the community, for portraying with vigor and intensity the role of Chilka lake as a mother of the people, sharing with them their joys and sorrows. |||
| Best Feature Film in Tamil | Agraharathil Kazhutai | Producer: Charley John | Rajat Kamal and ₹10,000 |
| Best Feature Film in Tamil | Agraharathil Kazhutai | Director: John Abraham | Rajat Kamal and ₹5,000 |
| Citation: For bold experimentation in a conservative milieu; for poetic intensity on a variety of levels; for creating a parable set against the orthodoxies and superstitions of a Brahmin village community; for its sympathy with the dumb world of animals and the equally dumb world of handicapped human beings; for the memorable impression it leaves on the minds of the viewers through the striking visual use of the verses of Subramanya Bharati, the first Tamil modernist. |||
| Best Feature Film in Telugu | Oka Oori Katha | Producer: A. Parandhama Reddy | Rajat Kamal and ₹10,000 |
| Best Feature Film in Telugu | Oka Oori Katha | Director: Mrinal Sen | Rajat Kamal and ₹5,000 |
| Citation: For successfully transforming Premchand's story "Kafan" into a scathing commentary on rural destitution and social injustice; for projecting through powerful performances of its leading characters, the degradation and brutalisation of human beings, for its sincere commitment to the cause of the downtrodden; for its fervent impassioned appeal to the conscience of humanity. |||

### Non-Feature films

Following were the awards given:

#### Short films

| Name of Award | Name of Film | Language | Awardee(s) | Cash Prize |
| Best Information Film | Deshratna Rajendra Prasad | Hindi | Producer: Arvind Kumar Sinha | Rajat Kamal and ₹5,000 |
| Best Information Film | Deshratna Rajendra Prasad | Hindi | Director: M. Prabhat | Rajat Kamal and ₹4,000 |
| Citation: For an objective account of the national struggle for Independence as reflected in the personal life of India first President. The film is an excellent example of historical documentation, while it portrays with much sensitivity Rajendra Prasad as a human being. ||||
| Best Educational / Instructional Film | Tobacco Habits and Oral Cancer | English | Producer: A. V. Films | Rajat Kamal and ₹5,000 |
| Best Educational / Instructional Film | Tobacco Habits and Oral Cancer | English | Director: Arun Khopkar | Rajat Kamal and ₹4,000 |
| Citation: For its remarkable precision in describing the cause and effect relationship of tobacco habits and oral cancer. It gives a systematic and telling account of a scientific phenomenon and produces an overwhelming impact. ||||
| Best Promotional Film (Non-Commercial and Commercial) | Parvati | Hindi | Producer and Director: Santi P. Chowdhury | Rajat Kamal |
| Citation: For a sensitive presentation of the generation gap and of the interrelationships of family welfare literacy, self-reliance and modernisation of social attitudes. It is a simple, quiet and compelling story and avoids strident didactic-ism. ||||
| Best Experimental Film | Samadhi | Music only | Producer: Film and Television Institute of India | Rajat Kamal and ₹5,000 |
| Best Experimental Film | Samadhi | Music only | Director: John Sankaramangalam | Rajat Kamal and ₹4,000 |
| Citation: For achieving a mellifluous blending of the spirit and philosophy of Yoga, with a wealth of detail of practical exercises in an atmosphere of calm contemplation, ennobling music and recitations from the sacred texts. ||||
| Best Animation Film | Prakriti Ka Niyam | Hindi | Producer: G. P. Asthana for Films Division | Rajat Kamal and ₹5,000 |
| Best Animation Film | Prakriti Ka Niyam | Hindi | Animator: V. G. Samant | Rajat Kamal and ₹5,000 |
| Best Animation Film | Prakriti Ka Niyam | Hindi | Director: B. R. Shendge | Rajat Kamal and ₹4,000 |
| Citation: For successfully projecting the case against early marriage through excellent and emotive art work and animation techniques. ||||
| Best Newsreel Cameraman | Indian News Review No. 1508 | English | C. L. Kaul | Rajat Kamal and ₹5,000 |
| Citation: For the breathtaking sweep of his camerawork portraying the faith and emotions of the pilgrims on the hazardous route to the Amarnath Cave, culminating in the final Darshan. ||||
| Best News Review | Unprecedented Havoc (Indian News Review No. 1520) | English | Films Division | Rajat Kamal and ₹5,000 |
| Citation: For a vivid, visual documentation of the havoc wrought by the cyclonic storm which hit the coastal districts of Andhra Pradesh on 19 November 1977. ||||

### Awards not given

Following were the awards not given as no film was found to be suitable for the award:
* Second Best Feature Film
* Best Story
* Best Feature Film on National Integration
* Best Film on Family Welfare
* Best Lyrics
* Best Film on Social Documentation
* President's Silver Medal for Best Feature Film in Bengali
* President's Silver Medal for Best Feature Film in English
* President's Silver Medal for Best Feature Film in Hindi
* President's Silver Medal for Best Feature Film in Manipuri
* President's Silver Medal for Best Feature Film in Punjabi