Indira Gandhi, Nargis Dutt's names dropped from National Film Awards categories

Indira Gandhi, Nargis Dutt’s names dropped from National Film Awards categories

The Regulations of the 70th National Film Awards 2022 notified on Tuesday that the names of former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi and late actor Nargis Dutt will not be used at the upcoming awards ceremony.

Indira Gandhi Award for Best Debut Film is merely mentioned as Best Debut Film of a Director in the notification uploaded by the committee, while the Nargis Dutt Award for Best Feature Film on National Integration has been renamed as Best Feature Film Promoting National, Social and Environmental Values, further merging the categories of social issues and environment conservation into one. While the former will have the director honoured with a Swarna Kamal and Rs 3 lakh, the latter will honour the producer and director with Rajat Kamal and Rs 2 lakh each.

The Indira Gandhi Award for Best Debut Film was earlier titled Award for Best First Film of a Director and the name of the former PM was taken up in 1984, after her death. On the other hand, the Nargis Dutt Award for Best Feature Film on National Integration was established as a category in 1965 at the 13th National Film Awards.

IndiaToday.in has reached out to Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC) chief Prasoon Joshi, who is also part of the rationalisation committee, to understand the reason behind the changes. He is yet to respond to the query.

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