The National Film Awards, established in 1954, are the most prominent film awards in India that merit the best of the Indian cinema. The ceremony also presents awards for films in various regional languages.
Awards for films in seven regional language (Bengali, Hindi, Kannada, Malayalam, Marathi, Tamil and Telugu) started from 2nd National Film Awards which were presented on 21 December 1955.[2] Three awards of "President's Silver Medal for Best Feature Film", "Certificate of Merit for the Second Best Feature Film" and "Certificate of Merit for the Third Best Feature Film" were instituted. The later two certificate awards were discontinued from 15th National Film Awards (1967).
The first winner of the "President's Silver Medal for Best Feature Film in Malayalam" was the 1954 film Neelakuyil. Jointly directed by P. Bhaskaran and Ramu Kariat, the film was based on a story written by Malayalam writer Uroob. It told the story of a love affair between a Dalit girl and an educated, high caste school teacher. The film is considered a landmark in Malayalam cinema history.[3] Along with Neelakuyil, S. S. Rajan directed film Sneha Seema was honoured with a Certificate of Merit. Following is the list of Silver Lotus Award (Rajat Kamal) recipient films produced in Malayalam language.
Winners
Award includes 'Rajat Kamal' (Silver Lotus Award) and cash prize. Following are the award winners over the years:
Awards legends
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President's Silver Medal for Best Feature Film
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Certificate of Merit for the Second Best Feature Film
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Certificate of Merit for the Third Best Feature Film
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Certificate of Merit for the Best Feature Film
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Indicates a joint award for that year
List of award films, showing the year (award ceremony), producer(s), director(s) and citation
For capturing with an unerring eye for detail the trivia of village life; for presenting through its calculated pace and rhythm a true slice of a rural culture in Kerala; for revealing through seemingly insignificant vignettes the gradual transformation of a casual village drifter into a person of genuine worth and true dignity.
For presenting dilemma of romantic revolutionary who understands the futility of his misadventure at the cost of some rare moments of happiness, for successfully building up the sense of impending doom underlining the human relationships throughout the film.
For presenting the total decadence of the feudal system with unusual sensitivity and realism and for perceptively portraying the personal tragedy of those caught up in it.
For exploring the layers of family relationship in a rural setting threatened by urban culture and explains how the imminent breakdown of the joint family is prevented by a death.
For creating highly disciplined work of great formal quality of a little boy's discovery of his dead father's environment and his eventual alienation from his mother.
For its remarkable creation of an imprisoned writer's mind hovering between the pain of confinement, existential apprehension of death and the hallucinatory "reality" of sensual love.
For its original concept and in-depth exploration of the psyche of a man who escapes into the mystic past to flee from the harsh reality of everyday life.
For its in-depth handling and complex delineation of the psychological evolution of two characters, representative of the transformation of terror into power and its hold over the life of the existentialist outsider.
The film tells the story of a remarkable courageous middle class woman who takes challenge upon challenge in her stride. Each confrontation makes a comment on social structures.
It authentically deals with the social ambience prevailing among the brahmin community ages ago. The story unfolded through the bold adventures of one brahmin woman, Thethi, who finally takes to Sanyas.
For depicting an intricately structured screenplay about the need for discovering new adjustments in family relationship and the complexities and fallacies of conjugal harmony.
For the film with a wonderful structure and well worked out mise-en-scenes tries to depict a complex story of the Christian community in a simple manner.
For a brilliant narrative depicting the complex relationship between a dancer wife and a loving husband. It highlights the values of life, art and the co-existence of the two.
For documenting the life of an ordinary human being who is denied any meaningful relationship within his family. In the end however the film very subtly but effectively brings out the triumph of the dignity of human relationships.
For narrating the story of a doctor who overcomes personal loss to journey through an unfamiliar landscape to fulfil a promise to a dying mother and in the process finds a personal salvation.
For its seemingly breezy take on the booming real estate sector of urban Kerala, mirrored in towns and cities all over India, of irregularly employed youth who give up traditional values of family, society and education for quick money. But what director manages to communicate is the message that crime eventually does pay, but at almost unbearable loss of self esteem, panic, anxiety and loneliness.
For an artistically narrated saga of two generations of Malayali workers who migrated to the Persian Gulf region for livelihood, told through the poignant story of one man.