The 17th National Film Awards were presented by the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting of India to facilitate the best of Indian cinema released in 1969.^[1] The ceremony took place at University Centenary Auditorium, Madras on 21 November 1970.

At the 17th National Film Awards, a new award was introduced to honour the father of Indian cinema, Dhundiraj Govind Phalke, better known as Dadasaheb Phalke. Named the Dadasaheb Phalke Award, it was introduced to recognise the contribution of film personalities towards the development of Indian cinema. Starting with the 100th anniversary of the birth of Phalke in 1870, the award was awarded annually for this distinguished contribution.

Six different committees were formed based on the filmmaking sectors in India; along with the award categories, they were mainly based in Bombay, Calcutta and Madras. Another committee for the All India level was also formed, which included some of the members from the regional committees. For the 17th National Film Awards, this central committee was headed by Justice G. D. Khosla.^[1]

• Jury Members: Central
  • G. D. Khosla (Chairperson) • Sitaram Kesri • Shiela Vats • A. C. Jalan • Ezra Mir • B. K. Karanjia • Teji Bachchan • I. S. Johar • Haridas Bhattacharjee • U. Visweswar Rao • Sunder Lal Nahata • M. N. Kapur
• Jury Members: Documentary
  • Tara Ali Baig (Chairperson) • Rashid-Ul-Talib • Kapila Vatsyayan • Usha Bhagat • Shanta Gandhi
• Jury Members: Short Films
  • Amrita Pritam (Chairperson) • R. G. Anand • Inder Lal Das
• Jury Regional: Bombay
  • Nissim Ezekiel (Chairperson) • Urmila Kapur • Navin Khandwalla • R. S. Pande • Firoze Rangoonwalla • Bikram Singh • Bal Chhabda • Shatrujit Paul • Buny Talwar • G. P. Shirke
• Jury Regional: Calcutta
  • Amala Shankar (Chairperson) • Roma Choudhry • Chintamoni Kar • K. C. Panigrahi • A. K. Pramanick • Utpal Dutta • Kanan Devi • Kartic Chatterjee • Durgadas Mitra • Arti Tagore
• Jury Regional: Madras
  • C. R. Pattabhiraman (Chairperson) • P. Achutha Menon • R. K. Narayan • Mallikarjuna Rao • Sarojini Varadappan • K. Manoharan • Rajammal Anantharaman • V. C. Subburaman • D. V. S. Raju • B. Ananthaswami

Awards were divided into feature films and non-feature films.

The President's Gold Medal for the All India Best Feature Film is now better known as the National Film Award for Best Feature Film, whereas the President's Gold Medal for the Best Documentary Film is analogous to today's National Film Award for Best Non-Feature Film. For children's films, the Prime Minister's Gold Medal is now given as the National Film Award for Best Children's Film. At the regional level, the President's Silver Medal for Best Feature Film is now given as the National Film Award for Best Feature Film in a particular language. Certificates of Merit in all categories have been discontinued over the years.

Award	Image	Awardee(s)	Awarded As	Cash Prize
Dadasaheb Phalke Award		Devika Rani Chaudhuri Roerich	Actress	₹11,000, a shawl and a plaque

Feature films were awarded at the All India as well as the regional level. For the 17th National Film Awards, a Bengali film Bhuvan Shome won the President's Gold Medal for the All India Best Feature Film while also winning the maximum number of awards (three).^[1]

The awards given at the All India level were as follows:^[1]

Some awards were given to the best films made in the various regional languages of India. For feature films in English, the President's Silver Medal for Best Feature Film was not given. The producer and director of the winning films were awarded with ₹5,000 and a Silver medal, respectively.^[1]

Awards were also given to numerous short films.^[1]

Some awards were not given because no film was considered suitable:^[1]

• National Film Awards Archives
• Official Page for Directorate of Film Festivals, India