# 3rd National Film Awards

The 3rd National Film Awards, then known as State Awards for Films, presented by Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, India to felicitate the best of Indian Cinema released in the year 1955. Ceremony took place at Vigyan Bhavan, New Delhi in September 1956 and awards were given by Prime Minister of India, Jawaharlal Nehru.

## Juries

Three different committees were formed based on the film making sectors in India, mainly based in Bombay, Calcutta and Madras. Another committee for all India level was also formed which included some of the members from regional committee. For 3rd National Film Awards, central committee was headed by C. D. Deshmukh.
* Jury Members: Central
** C. D. Deshmukh (Chairperson) • M. D. Bhat • N. K. Siddhanta • W. S. Krishnaswami Nayudu • Ammu Swaminathan • Sucheta Kriplani • Ramdhari Singh Dinkar • Syed Nurullah • Ardhendu Mukerjee • D. Ramanujam • Sudhir Mukerjee
* Jury Regional: Bombay
** M. D. Bhat (Chairperson) • Pandit Narendra Sharma • P. N. Arora • Jayant Desai • M. R. Palande • Jagdish Sethi
* Jury Regional: Calcutta
** N. K. Siddhanta (Chairperson) • Sabita Devi • S. K. Mukerjee • Tarasankar Bandyopadhyay • Kalidas Nag • Sudhir Mukerjee
* Jury Regional: Madras
** W. S. Krishnaswami Nayudu (Chairperson) • Manjubhashini • Mu. Varadarajan • R. Subbarao • A. Ramaiah • A. Aiyapan • V. K. Gokak • S. M. Naidu

## 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 3rd National Film Awards, Pather Panchali, a Bengali film by a debutant director Satyajit Ray won the President's gold medal for the All India Best Feature Film. Following were the awards given:

#### All India Award

For 3rd National Film Awards, none of the films were awarded from Children's films category as no film was found to be suitable.
| Award | Film | Language | Awardee(s) | Awardee(s) |
| Award | Film | Language | Producer | Director |
| President's gold medal for the All India Best Feature Film | Pather Panchali | Bengali | Government of West Bengal | Satyajit Ray |
| All India Certificate of Merit | Jhanak Jhanak Payal Baaje | Hindi | Rajkamal Kalamandir | V. Shantaram |
| All India Certificate of Merit | Shirdi Che Sai Baba | Marathi | Nandadeep chitra | Kumarsen Samarth |

#### Regional Award

With 3rd National Film Awards, new award category was introduced for the feature films made in Assamese language. This newly introduced category includes President's silver medal for Best Feature Film in Assamese and Certificate of Merit for second and third best film, although former was not given as no film was found suitable for the award.
The awards were given to the best films made in the regional languages of India. For 3rd National Film Awards, President's silver medal for Best Feature Film was not given in Assamese, Bengali, Hindi, Kannada and Tamil language; instead Certificate of Merit was awarded in each particular language.
| Award | Film | Awardee(s) | Awardee(s) |
| Award | Film | Producer | Director |
| Feature Films in Assamese ||||
| Certificate of Merit | Piyali Phukan | Rupajyoti Productions | Phani Sarma |
| Feature Films in Bengali ||||
| President's silver medal for Best Feature Film | Pather Panchali | Government of West Bengal | Satyajit Ray |
| Certificate of Merit | Rani Rashmoni | Chalachitra Pratishthan | Kali Prasad Ghosh |
| Certificate of Merit | Rai Kamal | Aurora Films Corporation | Subodh Mitra |
| Feature Films in Hindi ||||
| President's silver medal for Best Feature Film | Jhanak Jhanak Payal Baaje | Rajkamal Kalamandir | V. Shantaram |
| Certificate of Merit | Shree 420 | R. K. Films | Raj Kapoor |
| Certificate of Merit | Devdas | Bimal Roy Productions | Bimal Roy |
| Feature Films in Kannada ||||
| Certificate of Merit | Mahakavi Kalidasa | Lalitakala Film Private Ltd. | Honnappa Bhagavatar |
| Feature Films in Marathi ||||
| President's silver medal for Best Feature Film | Me Tulas Tujhya Angani | Nav Chitra | Raja Thakur |
| Certificate of Merit | Shevagyachya Shenga | Sadashiv Row J. Kavi | Shantaram Athavale |
| Feature Films in Tamil ||||
| Certificate of Merit | Mangaiyar Thilakam | Vaidya Films | L. V. Prasad |
| Feature Films in Telugu ||||
| President's silver medal for Best Feature Film | Bangaru Papa | Vauhini Productions | B. N. Reddy |
| Certificate of Merit | Ardhangi | Ragini Films | P. Pullaiah |

### Non-Feature films

Non-feature film awards were given for the documentaries made in the country. Following were the awards given:

#### Documentaries

| Award | Film | Language | Awardee(s) | Awardee(s) |
| Award | Film | Language | Producer | Director |
| President's gold medal for the Best Documentary Film | Magic of Mountains | English | Films Division | Mushir Ahmed |
| Certificate of Merit | Wonder of Work | English | Films Division | |
| Certificate of Merit | Education for Life | English | Ama Ltd. | |

### Awards not given

Following were the awards not given as no film was found to be suitable for the award:
* Prime Minister's gold medal for the Best Children's Film
* President's silver medal for Best Feature Film in Assamese
* President's silver medal for Best Feature Film in Bengali
* President's silver medal for Best Feature Film in Hindi
* President's silver medal for Best Feature Film in Kannada
* President's silver medal for Best Feature Film in Malayalam
* President's silver medal for Best Feature Film in Tamil