55th National Film Awards

The 55th National Film Awards, presented by Directorate of Film Festivals, the organisation set up by Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, India to felicitate the best of Indian Cinema released in the year 2007.

Three different committees were instituted in order to judge the various entries for feature film, non-feature film and best writing on cinema sections; headed by National award winner director, Sai Paranjpye, for feature films and Ashoke Viswanathan along with Namita Gokhale for non-feature films and best writing on cinema sections, respectively.

Each chairperson announced the award on 7 September 2009 for their respective sections and award ceremony took place at Vigyan Bhavan, New Delhi with President of India, Pratibha Patil giving away the awards on 21 October 2009.

Awards
Awards were divided into feature films, non-feature films and books written on Indian cinema.

Lifetime Achievement Award
Lifetime achievement award is given to the prominent personality from the Indian film industry for the significant contributions given.

Juries
A committee consisting four eminent personalities from Indian film industry was appointed to evaluate the lifetime achievement award, Dadasaheb Phalke Award. Following were the jury members:


 * Jury members
 * Akkineni Nageswara Rao • Yash Chopra • Vijaya Mulay • Amjad Ali Khan

Feature films
Feature films were awarded at All India as well as regional level. For 55th National Film Awards, a Tamil film, Kanchivaram won the National Film Award for Best Feature Film; whereas a Hindi film, Gandhi, My Father won the maximum number of awards (3). Following were the awards given in each category:

Juries
A committee headed by Sai Paranjpye was appointed to evaluate the feature films awards. Following were the jury members:


 * Jury members
 * Sai Paranjpye (Chairperson) • Nemai Ghosh • Manju Borah • Ahsan Muzid • Arup Manna • Mohan Sharma • K. S. Sivaraman
 * Rajendra Narayan Talak • Kesari Harvoo • Ervelle Menezes • Sibi Malayil • Sunny Joseph • Satya Paul • Pratibha Prahlad

All India Award
Following were the awards given:

Golden Lotus Award
Official name: Swarna Kamal

All the awardees are awarded with 'Golden Lotus Award (Swarna Kamal)', a certificate and cash prize.

Silver Lotus Award
Official name: Rajat Kamal

All the awardees are awarded with 'Silver Lotus Award (Rajat Kamal)', a certificate and cash prize.

Regional Awards
The award is given to best film in the regional languages in India.

Best Feature Film in Each of the Language Other Than Those Specified In the Schedule VIII of the Constitution

Non-Feature Films
Films made in any Indian language shot on 16 mm, 35 mm or in a wider gauge or digital format and released on either film format or video/digital but certified by the Central Board of Film Certification as a documentary/newsreel/fiction are eligible for non-feature film section.

Juries
A committee headed by Ashoke Viswanathan was appointed to evaluate the non-feature films awards. Following were the jury members:


 * Jury Members
 * Ashoke Viswanathan (Chairperson) • Prabhu Radhakrishnan • Rajendra Janglay • Jasmine K. Roy • Ashok Ogra • Ramesh Asher

Golden Lotus Award
Official name: Swarna Kamal

All the awardees are awarded with 'Golden Lotus Award (Swarna Kamal)', a certificate and cash prize.

Silver Lotus Award
Official name: Rajat Kamal

All the awardees are awarded with 'Silver Lotus Award (Rajat Kamal)' and cash prize.

Best Writing on Cinema
The awards aim at encouraging study and appreciation of cinema as an art form and dissemination of information and critical appreciation of this art-form through publication of books, articles, reviews etc.

Juries
A committee headed by Namita Gokhale was appointed to evaluate the writing on Indian cinema. Following were the jury members:


 * Jury Members
 * Namita Gokhale (Chairperson) • Jerry Pinto • G. P. Ramachandran

Golden Lotus Award
Official name: Swarna Kamal

All the awardees are awarded with 'Golden Lotus Award (Swarna Kamal)' and cash prize.

Awards not given
Following were the awards not given as no film was found to be suitable for the award:


 * Best Scientific Film
 * Best Arts / Cultural Film
 * Best Environment Film Including Agriculture
 * Best Promotional Film
 * Best Agricultural Film
 * Best Non-Feature Animation Film
 * Best Feature Film in Assamese
 * Best Feature Film in Manipuri
 * Best Feature Film in Oriya
 * Best Feature Film in Punjabi
 * Best Feature Film in Telugu
 * Best Exploration / Adventure Film