The 64 National Film Awards announced its winners this morning. Encompassing the entire Indian cinema, the annual National Film Awards honour the best films of 2016.
Hum Chitra Banate Hai won the Best Animation Film award in the Non-feature Film category. Directed by Nina Sabnani, animated by Piyush Verma and Shyam Sundar Chatterjee and produced by IDA and IIT Mumbai, Hum Chitra Banate Hai is a playfully warm story that brings to life India’s traditional art by incorporating it innovatively in the animation itself. The producer, director and animators were each awarded with the Rajat Kamal and a cash prize of Rs 50,000.
Shivaay which has been heavily praised for its cinematography and action sequences bagged the National Film Award for best special effects for the film. Naveen Paul, who was the VFX supervisor and creative director of VFX in Shivaay, was felicitated with the Rajat Kamal and a cash prize of Rs 50,000.
Studio NY VFXWAALA has previously bagged the best VFX award at 24 FPS, Star Screen Award and Zee Cine Award for Shivaay.
Mahayoddha Rama, directed by Rohit Vaid, animated by Deepak S.V. and produced by Contiloe Pictures took home the award for best animation film in the Feature Film category, for the epic drama brought alive with technical excellence. When asked about his feeling on winning the National Award, Rohit Vaid said, “It’s euphoric..” Confused, humbled and short of words, Vaid said that he was still living the moment. “We’ve had a long journey with this project. It is a very different and fresh take on the epic,” said Deepak.
Contiloe Pictures, CEO, Abhimanyu Singh expressed, “We are delighted that our efforts have got such a prestigious recognition. I am truly humbled. This recognition stands testament for all the hard work put in by the team.” The director, producer and animator each were presented with the Swarna Kamal and a cash prize of Rs 1,00,000.
Apart from these, Marathi short film ‘Adnyat’ bagged the accolade for Best Cinematography in the Non-Feature Film category. Produced in December 2016, the near 17 minutes short feature deals with the poignant topic of religion through its protagonist. Red Chillies’ newest initiative Redchillies.Color has been associated with this short film.
Director Santosh Davakhar said, “It’s an amazing feeling when great content and movie gets recognised, the team is very happy. I would also like to extend my warm regards to the Redchillies.Color team. I was initially hesitant whether working with such a big brand might scale up the budget that was set aside for the post production; but the team worked according to our requirements and even extended themselves to ensure that the project could be timely delivered to even make it to the selection process round for the National Award recognition.”
Under the Best Cinematography category, cinematographer Tirru bagged the award for the Tamil movie 24. The film also won the the Best production Design award. Being a science fiction, time-travelling film, it had major VFX work involved in it which was delivered by studios like Prime Focus, Riva Animation & VFX and After studio.