Astha Pandey/VOIWORLD
Recently held the 71st National Film Awards 2025, will be remembered not for who walked the red carpet, but for how they redrew the map of Indian entertainment. This time the spotlight shifted towards the outsiders, risk-takers and the films that made their mark and carried the potential to change the status quo. This year the jury
appreciated the films that merged mass appeal along with evoking the moral compass, thereby proving that audiences are hungry for both grand spectacle and soulful storytelling.
For directors, actors, storytellers, producers and platforms who are planning the next big releases, the message by the national film authorities and the audience is crystal clear that thoughtful risk is the new safe bet.
This year’s awardees include the relentless talented personnel who are surely the biggest contributors of the excellence of cinema.
After delivering masterpieces like Swades, My name is Khan, Ra.one and many more, famously known as The King of Bollywood Shahrukh Khan received his First National Award for his latest release Jawan. Along with him, as leading male an outsider Vikrant Messy got his due recognition for his film 12th Fail. The national award for the leading female was given to Rani Mukherjee for her role in the movie Mrs.Chatterjee vs State of
Norway, which is remarkable for its portrayal of motherhood that need no to be just presented as sentimental or ornamental, instead it can be substantial and thought provoking.
This year’s Dadasaheb Phalke Award was given to Mohanlal Viswanathan, who has acted in over 350 films across Malayalam, Tamil, Telugu, Hindi, and Kannada cinema since his debut in the early 1980s. This is a symbolic gesture by the Jury that states that along with cryptic appreciation towards new budding talent one must always keep an eye for the talent who shaped the industry with their experience and created a legacy
out of it.
The award jury however also showed its affection across the country’s linguistic map by recognising the projects like Kathal in Hindi, Parking in Tamil, Bhagavanth Kesari in Telugu and Ullozhukku in Malayalam, proving that Indian storytelling speaks many dialects, each with its own rhythm. Even the “crowd-pleaser” award, to Karan Johar directed Rocky Aur Rani Kii Prem Kahaani as Best Popular Film while offering a sharp social commentary beneath its sparkly resemblance went into notice.
The winners list further involves movies like ‘Sambahadur’ for Best Feature Film Promoting National, Social and Environmental Values category, by the director Meghna Gulzar and Hanuman (Telugu) as the Best Film in AVGC (VFX Supervisor). This winner of all categories for 2025 National Awards represents no bias towards any predictable favourites, instead it is more appreciative towards those who were capable of delivering
substance and stardom together.
This year’s national award ceremony felt more like the first draft of India’s new vision of entertainment and storytelling which is impactful and true to the ground realities. By inculcating a diverse spectrum of fierce local cultural and language films hints that the Indian entertainment industry is now finally ready for being both promoting hyper-local sentiments and being globally ambitious.
