72nd National Film Awards: Mammootty, Dhanush and Amaran win big from South

The 72nd National Film Awards were announced in New Delhi on July 18. Malayalam superstar Mammootty won Best Actor, while Dhanush's Captain Miller and Sivakarthikeyan's Amaran bagged top nods for the 2024.

In Short

• Mammootty and Kartik Aaryan share Best Actor award for Bramayugam and Chandu Champion
• Dhanush receives Special Mention for Captain Miller and wins Best Tamil Film as director for Raayan
• Pushpa 2: The Rule wins Best Screenplay and Best Costume Designer

Malayalam superstar Mammootty won Best Actor for his brilliant performance in Bramayugam. He shared the award with Kartik Aaryan for Chandu Champion. Actor Dhanush won a Special Mention for his performance in director Arun Matheswaran's Captain Miller. He was also recognised as director, with his directorial venture, Raayan, winning the Best Tamil Film award.

Allu Arjun's Pushpa 2: The Rule won in two categories: for Best Screenplay and Best Costume Designer. Director Nag Ashwin's Kalki 2898 AD, starring Prabhas, Kamal Haasan and Amitabh Bachchan, won Best Popular Film Providing Wholesome Entertainment. Dhanush-starrer Captain Miller bagged Best Feature Film Promoting National, Social and Environmental Values.

Sivakarthikeyan's Amaran won awards in three categories, namely, Best Direction (Rajkumar Periasamy), Best Editing (R Kalaivanan) and Best Music Director - Background Music (GV Prakash). In Telugu, Committee Kurrollu and 35-Chinna Katha Kaadu won multiple awards in prominent categories.

Here is the list of winners from the South:

Best Actor in a Leading Role: Kartik Aaryan for Chandu Champion and Mammootty for Bramayugam

Best Actress in Supporting role: Ropashree Varkady for Mithya and Sachana Namidass for Maharaja

Best Direction: Rajkumar Periasamy for Amaran

Special Mention: Actor Dhanush for Captain Miller

Special Mention: Sound engineer Suren for Meiyazhagan

Best Telugu Film: Committee Kurrollu

Best Tamil Film: Raayan

Best Malayalam Film: Feminichi Fathima

Best Kannada Film: Mithya

Best Feature Film Promoting National, Social and Environmental Values - Captain Miller

Best Popular Film Providing Wholesome Entertainment: Kalki 2898 AD

Best Action Direction: Anl Arasu for Maharaja

Best Music Direction for Background Music: GV Prakash Kumar for Amaran

Best Make-up: P Ravi Kumar for Committee Kurrollu

Best Costume Designer: Deepali Noor and Sheetal Sharma for Pushpa 2: The Rule

Best Production Designer: Nitin Zihani Choudhary for Kalki 2898 AD

Best Editing: R Kalaivanan for Amaran

Best Dialogue Writer: Venky Atluri for Lucky Baskhar

Best Original Screenplay: Dandreddi Sukumar for Pushpa 2: The Rule

Best Cinematography: Shehnad Jalal for Bramayugam

Best Female Playback Singer: Vaikom Vijayalakshmi for Angu Vaana Konilu from ARM

Best Child Artist (Kannada): Arundev Pothula for 35-Chinna Katha Kaadu and Athish S Shetty for Mithya

Best Children's Film: 35 - Chinna Katha Kaadu

Filmmaker Jayaraj announced the winners for the 72nd National Film Awards in the Feature Film category. Nearly 400 films which were released between January 1, 2024 to December 31, 2024, were eligible for the awards.

- Ends