18th National Film Awards


The 18th National Film Awards were held in Chennai, India in November 1971 by the Indian Ministry of Information and Broadcasting for Indian films released in 1970. The awards were presented by then President of India, V. V. Giri.

Juries

The award winners were chosen by four juries, one each for the Bombay, Calcutta and Madras regions and a central jury for all India. For the 18th National Film Awards the central jury was headed by Justice G. D. Khosla.
Awards were given to feature films and non-feature films.
The top national award in each category was the President's Gold Medal and, at the regional level, the President's Silver Medal.

Lifetime Achievement Award

AwardAwardeeAwarded AsCash Prize
Dadasaheb Phalke AwardB. N. SircarProducer11,000, a shawl and a plaque

Feature films

The Kannada film Samskara won the President's Gold Medal for the All India Best Feature Film. Three award each went to the Hindi films, Dastak and Mera Naam Joker, and to the Bengali film Pratidwandi.

All India Award

Award recipients:
AwardFilmLanguageAwardeeCash Prize
Best Feature FilmSamskaraKannadaProducer: T. Pattabhirami ReddyGold Medal and 40,000
Best Feature FilmSamskaraKannadaDirector: T. Pattabhirami ReddyGold Medal and 40,000
Second Best Feature FilmPratidwandiBengaliProducer: Nepal Dutta15,000 and a medal
Second Best Feature FilmPratidwandiBengaliProducer: Asim Dutta15,000 and a medal
Second Best Feature FilmPratidwandiBengaliDirector: Satyajit Ray5,000 and a plaque
Best Feature Film on National IntegrationThurakkatha VaathilMalayalamProducer: A. Raghunath30,000 and a medal
Best Feature Film on National IntegrationThurakkatha VaathilMalayalamDirector: P. Bhaskaran10,000 and a plaque
Best Actor DastakHindiSanjeev KumarA figurine
Best Actress DastakHindiRehana SultanA figurine
Best Child ArtistMera Naam JokerHindiRishi KapoorA plaque
Best DirectionPratidwandiBengaliSatyajit Ray 5,000 and a plaque
Best Music DirectionDastakHindiMadan Mohan 5,000 and a plaque
Best Male Playback SingerNishi Padma
BengaliManna DeyA plaque
Best Male Playback SingerMera Naam Joker
HindiManna DeyA plaque
Best Female Playback SingerNishi Padma
BengaliSandhya MukherjeeA plaque
Best Female Playback SingerJay Jayanti
BengaliSandhya MukherjeeA plaque
Best ScreenplayPratidwandiBengaliSatyajit Ray5,000 and a plaque
Best Cinematography Uski RotiHindiK. K. Mahajan5,000 and a plaque
Best Cinematography Mera Naam JokerHindiRadhu Karmakar5,000 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, Oriya and Punjabi language, the resident'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.

Non-Feature films

The award recipients were:

Short films

Name of AwardName of FilmLanguageAwardeeAwards
Best Film on Social DocumentationLatestEnglishProducer: M/s. Film-O-Pub5,000 and a medal
Best Film on Social DocumentationLatestEnglishDirector: Biplab Ray Chaudhari2,000 and a plaque

Awards not given

The following awards not given: