61st National Film Awards
The 61st National Film Awards ceremony was an event during which the Directorate of Film Festivals of India presented its annual National Film Awards to honour the best films of 2013 in the Indian cinema. The ceremony was held on 3 May 2014.
Selection process
The Directorate of Film Festivals invited nominations for the awards on 24 January 2014. The acceptable last date for entries was until 14 February 2014. Feature and Non-Feature Films certified by Central Board of Film Certification between 1 January 2013, and 31 December 2013, were eligible for the film award categories. Books, critical studies, reviews or articles on cinema published in Indian newspapers, magazines, and journals between 1 January 2013, and 31 December 2013, were eligible for the best writing on cinema section. Entries of dubbed, revised or copied versions of a film or translation, abridgements, edited or annotated works and reprints were ineligible for the awards.For the Feature and Non-Feature Films sections, films in any Indian language, shot on 16 mm, 35 mm, a wider film gauge or a digital format, and released in cinemas, on video or digital formats for home viewing were eligible. Films were required to be certified as a feature film, a featurette or a Documentary/Newsreel/Non-Fiction by the Central Board of Film Certification.
Dadasaheb Phalke Award
Introduced in 1969, the Dadasaheb Phalke Award is the highest award given to recognise the contributions of film personalities towards the development of Indian cinema and for distinguished contributions to the medium, its growth and promotion. A committee consisting of seven personalities from the Indian film industry was appointed to evaluate the Dadasaheb Phalke award nominations for 2013. Following were the jury members:- Jury Members
| Name of Award | Awardee | Awarded As | Awards |
| Dadasaheb Phalke Award | Gulzar | Poet, Lyricist and Film director | Swarna Kamal, and a Shawl |
Feature Films
A Bengali film, Jaatishwar won the maximum number of awards followed by Telugu film Na Bangaaru Talli, Tamil film Thanga Meenkal and Marathi film YellowJury
For the Feature Film section, six committees were formed based on the different geographic regions in India. The two-tier evaluation process included a central committee and five regional committees. The central committee, headed by Saeed Akhtar Mirza, included the heads of each regional committee and five other jury members. At regional level, each committee consisted of one chief and four members. The chief and one non-chief member of each regional committee were selected from outside that geographic region. The table below names the jury members for the central and regional committees:Central Jury
Northern Region:
Eastern Region:
Western Region:
Southern Region I:
Southern Region II:
All India Awards
Golden Lotus Award
All the winners are awarded with a Swarna Kamal, a certificate and a cash prize.| Name of Award | Name of Film | Language | Awardee | Cash Prize |
| Best Feature Film | Ship of Theseus | English, Hindi | Producer: Recyclewala Films Pvt Ltd Director: Anand Gandhi | |
| Best Debut Film of a Director | Fandry | Marathi | Producer: Navalkha Arts and Holy Basil Combine Director: Nagraj Manjule | |
| Best Popular Film Providing Wholesome Entertainment | Bhaag Milkha Bhaag | Hindi | Producer: Viacom 18 Motion Pictures and ROMP Pictures Director: Rakeysh Omprakash Mehra | |
| Best Children's Film | Kaphal | Hindi | Producer: Children's Film Society of India Director: Batul Mukhtiar | |
| Best Direction | Shahid | Hindi | Hansal Mehta |
Silver Lotus Award
All the winners were awarded with a Rajat Kamal, a certificate and a cash prize.| Name of Award | Name of Film | Language | Awardee | Cash Prize |
| Best Feature Film on National Integration | Thalaimuraigal | Tamil | Producer: Company Productions Director:Balu Mahendra | |
| Best Film on Other Social Issues | Tuhya Dharma Koncha | Marathi | Producer: Indian Magic Eye Motion Pictures Pvt Ltd. Director : Satish Manwar | |
| Best Film on Environment Conservation/Preservation | Perariyathavar | Malayalam | Producer: Ambalakkara Global Films Director: Dr. Biju | |
| Best Actor | Shahid | Hindi | Rajkumar Rao | |
| Best Actor | Perariyathavar | Malayalam | Suraj Venjaramoodu | |
| Best Actress | Liar's Dice | Hindi | Geetanjali Thapa | |
| Best Supporting Actor | Jolly LLB | Hindi | Saurabh Shukla | |
| Best Supporting Actress | Astu | Marathi | Amruta Subhash | |
| Best Supporting Actress | Ship Of Theseus | English-Hindi | Aida El-Kashef | |
| Best Child Artist | Fandry | Marathi | Somnath Avghade | |
| Best Child Artist | Thanga Meenkal | Tamil | Baby Sadhana | |
| Best Male Playback Singer | Jaatishwar | Bengali | Rupankar Bagchi | |
| Best Female Playback Singer | Tuhya Dharma Koncha | Marathi | Bela Shende | |
| Best Cinematography | Liar's Dice | Hindi | Rajeev Ravi | |
| Best Screenplay Screenplay Writer | December-1 | Kannada | P. Sheshadri | |
| Best Screenplay Screenplay Writer | Prakruti | Kannada | Panchakshari | |
| Best Screenplay Dialogues | Astu | Marathi | Sumitra Bhave | |
| Best Audiography Location Sound Recordist | Madras Cafe | Hindi | Nihar Ranjan Samal | |
| Best Audiography Sound Designer | Madras Cafe | Hindi | Bishwadeep Chatterjee | |
| Best Audiography Re-recordist of the Final Mixed Track | Swapaanam | Malayalam | D. Yuvaraj | |
| Best Editing | Vallinam | Tamil | Sabu Joseph VJ | |
| Best Art Direction | Miss Lovely | Hindi | Ashim Ahluwalia Tabasheer Zutshi Parichit Paralkar | |
| Best Costume Design | Jaatishwar | Bengali | Sabarni Das | |
| Best Make-up Artist | Jaatishwar | Bengali | Vikram Gaikwad | |
| Best Music Direction Songs | Jaatishwar | Bengali | Kabir Suman | |
| Best Music Direction Background Score | Na Bangaaru Talli | Telugu | Shantanu Moitra | |
| Best Lyrics | Thanga Meenkal | Tamil | Na. Muthukumar | |
| Best Special Effects | Jal | Hindi | Intermezzo Studio Alien Sense Films Pvt Ltd | |
| Best Choreography | Bhaag Milkha Bhaag | Hindi | Ganesh Acharya | |
| Special Jury Award | Yellow | Marathi | Producer: Viva In En Director: Mahesh Limaye | |
| Special Jury Award | Miss Lovely | Hindi | Producer: Future East Film Pvt Ltd Director : Ashim Ahluwalia | |
| Special Mention | Yellow | Marathi | Gauri Gadgil | Certificate only |
| Special Mention | Yellow | Marathi | Sanjana Rai | Certificate only |
| Special Mention | Na Bangaaru Talli | Telugu | Anjali Patil | Certificate only |
Regional Award
National Film Awards are also given to the best films in the regional languages of India. Awards for the regional languages are categorised as per their mention in the Eighth schedule of the Constitution of India. Awardees included producers and directors of the film. No films in languages other than those specified in the Schedule VIII of the Constitution were eligible.Best Feature Film in Each of the Language Other Than Those Specified In the Schedule VIII of the Constitution
Non-Feature Films
Jury
A committee of seven, headed by chair, Ashoke Viswanathan was appointed to evaluate the Non-Feature Films entries. The jury members were:Golden Lotus Award
All the winners were awarded with Swarna Kamal, a certificate and cash prize.| Name of Award | Name of Film | Language | Awardee | Cash Prize |
| Best Non-Feature Film | Rangbhoomi | Hindi | Producer: Films Division Director: Kamal Swaroop | |
| Best Non-Feature Film Direction | Chidiya Udh | Pranjal Dua |
Silver Lotus Award
All the winners were awarded with Rajat Kamal and cash prize.| Name of Award | Name of Film | Language | Awardee | Cash Prize |
| Best First Non-Feature Film | Kanyaka | Malayalam | Producer: Satyajit Ray Film and Television Institute Director: Christo Tomy | each |
| Best Biographical Film / Best Historical Reconstruction Film | The Last Adieu | English | Producer: Films Division Director: Shabnam Sukhdev | each |
| Best Educational Film | The Quantum Indians | English | Producer: Public Service Broadcasting Trust Director: Raja Choudhury | each |
| Best Environment Film Including Agriculture | Foresting Life | Hindi-Assamese | Producer: A Media For Social Impact Director: Aarti Shrivastava | each |
| Best Arts / Cultural Film | The Lost Behrupiya | Hindi | Producer: Holybull Entertainment LLP Director: Sriram Dalton | each |
| Best Arts / Cultural Film | O Friend, This Waiting ! | English-Telugu | Producer: Justin McCarthy Director: Sandhya Kumar and Justin McCarthy | each |
| Best Promotional Film | Chasing The Rainbow | English | Producer: Edumedia India Director: Charu Shree Roy | each |
| Best Promotional Film | Kush | Hindi | Producer: Red Carpet Moving Pictures Pvt. Ltd. Director: Shubhashish Bhutiani | each |
| Best Science and Technology Film | The Pad Piper | English | Producer: Akanksha Sood Singh Director: Akanksha Sood Singh | |
| Best Film on Social Issues | Gulabi Gang | Hindi-Bundelkhandi | Producer: Raintree Films, Piraya Film As and Final Cut for Real Aps Director: Nishtha Jain | each |
| Best Investigative Film | Katiyabaaz | Hindi-Urdu-English | Producer: Globalistan Films Pvt. Ltd. Director: Deepti Kakkar and Fahad Mustafa | each |
| Best Short Fiction Film | Mandrake ! Mandrake ! | Hindi | Producer: FTII Director: Ruchir Arun | each |
| Best Film on Family Welfare | Heyro Party | Bengali | Producer: Baishakhi Banerjee and Deepak Gawade Director: Deepak Gawade | each |
| Best Cinematography | Mandrake ! Mandrake ! | Hindi | Cameraman: Kavin Jagtiani Lab: Reliance MediaWorks | |
| Best Audiography | Chidiya Udh | Gautam Nair | ||
| Best Editing | Gulabi Gang | Hindi-Bundelkhandi | Arjun Gourisaria | |
| Best Music Direction | Yugadrashta | Assamese | Anurag Saikia | |
| Best Narration / Voice Over | Kankee O Saapo | Oriya | Lipika Singh Darai | |
| Special Jury Award | Ananthamurthy – Not A Biography...But A Hypothesis | English | Girish Kasaravalli | |
| Special Jury Award | Tamaash | Kashmiri | Satyanshu Singh and Devanshu Singh | |
| Special Mention | Accsex | English-Hindi | Shweta Ghosh | Certificate only |
| Special Mention | Candles In The Wind | Punjabi-Hindi | Kavita Bahl and Nandan Saxena | Certificate only |
| Special Mention | Dharmam | Tamil | Madonne M. Ashwin | Certificate only |
| Special Mention | At the Cross Roads : Nondon Bagchi Life and Living | English-Bengali | Rajdeep Paul and Sarmistha Maiti | Certificate only |
Best Writing on Cinema
Jury
A committee of three, headed by Sharad Dutt was appointed to evaluate the nominations for the best writing on Indian cinema. The jury members were as follows:The Best Writing on Cinema awards are intended to encourage the study and appreciation of cinema as an art form and the dissemination of information and critical appreciation of the medium through books, articles, reviews etc.
Golden Lotus Award
All the winners were awarded with Swarna Kamal, cash prize and a certificate.| Name of Award | Name of Book | Language | Author | Publisher | Cash Prize |
| Best Book on Cinema | Cinema Ga Cinema | Telugu | Nandagopal | Praga India, Hyderabad |
| Name of Award | Language | Awardee | Cash Prize |
| Best Film Critic | English | Alaka Sahani |
Awards not presented
;Feature films- Best Animated Film
- Best Film on Family Welfare
- Best Feature Film in Oriya
- Best Animation Film
- Best Anthropological / Ethnographic Film
- Best Exploration / Adventure Film