# 4th National Film Awards

The 4th 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 1956. Ceremony took place at Vigyan Bhavan, New Delhi on 28 April 1957 and awards were given by then President of India, Dr. Rajendra Prasad.

## 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 the 4th National Film Awards, in this category, Kabuliwala, a Bengali film, along with a Telugu film, Tenali Ramakrishna won the maximum number of awards (two), with former also winning the President's gold medal for the All India Best Feature Film. Following were the awards given:

#### All India Award

For 4th National Film Awards, none of the films were awarded from Children's films category as no film was found to be suitable. Only Certificate of Merit for Children's films was given. Following were the awards given in each category:
| Award | Film | Language | Awardee(s) | Awardee(s) |
| Award | Film | Language | Producer | Director |
| President's gold medal for the All India Best Feature Film | Kabuliwala | Bengali | Charuchitra | Tapan Sinha |
| All India Certificate of Merit | Bandhan | Hindi | Sircar Productions | Hem Chunder |
| All India Certificate of Merit | Tenali Ramakrishna | Telugu | Vikram Productions | B. S. Ranga |
| All India Certificate of Merit for Best Children's Film | Jaldeep | Bengali | Children's Film Society | Kidar Sharma |

#### Regional Award

The awards were given to the best films made in the regional languages of India. For 4th National Film Awards, President's silver medal for Best Feature Film was not given in Hindi, Kannada and Tamil language; instead Certificate of Merit was awarded in each particular language, whereas no award was given for Assamese, Malayalam and Marathi language films.
| Award | Film | Awardee(s) | Awardee(s) |
| Award | Film | Producer | Director |
| Feature Films in Bengali ||||
| President's silver medal for Best Feature Film in Bengali | Kabuliwala | Charuchitra | Tapan Sinha |
| Certificate of Merit | Mahakavi Girishchandra | Emkeji Productions | Madhu Bose |
| Certificate of Merit | Ek Din Ratre | R. K. Films | Sombhu Mitra |
| Certificate of Merit | Ek Din Ratre | R. K. Films | Amit Maitra |
| Feature Films in Hindi ||||
| Certificate of Merit | Basant Bahar | Shri Vishwa Bharati Films | R. Chandra |
| Feature Films in Kannada ||||
| Certificate of Merit | Bhakta Vijaya | Jagannath Productions | A. K. Pattabhi |
| Feature Films in Tamil ||||
| Certificate of Merit | Kula Dheivam | S. K. Pictures | Krishnan–Panju |
| Feature Films in Telugu ||||
| President's silver medal for Best Feature Film in Telugu | Tenali Ramakrishna | Vikram Productions | B. S. Ranga |
| Certificate of Merit | Edi Nijam | Pratibha Productions | S. Balachander |

### 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 | Gotama The Buddha | English | Bimal Roy Productions (for Films Division) | Rajbans Khanna |
| Certificate of Merit | Khajuraho | English | Films Division | M. Wadhwani |
| Certificate of Merit | A Village In Travancore | English | Art Films of Asia Private Ltd. (for Burmah-Shell) | Fali Billimoria |

### 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 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 Marathi
* President's silver medal for Best Feature Film in Tamil