Last Saturday, July 20 saw the country’s first National Film Award 2069 take place at Nepal Army Officer’s Club in Sundhara. The award function, which was organized by Nepal Film Development Company (NFDC) in association with Gopi Krishna Entertainment, was broadcast live by TV Filmy and Radio Filmy.
A few members of the Indian film fraternity also graced the show with their presence. Girish Johar from Sahara Motion Pictures, Sunny Khanna, director of Bheja Fry 2 and producer Ganesh Jain expressed their honor at being part of the first National Film Award of Nepal and also talked about scouting for local talents to take to Bollywood. Udit Narayan and Deepa Jha were also greatly felicitated during the entire show with film personalities reminiscing about the bygone days with Jha.
Actor Rajesh Hamal started the function by introducing the five juries on the stage: Shubha Bahadur Sunam, music director; Chaitya Devi Singh, actor; Pradeep Kumar Upadhyaya, sound engineer; Manju Kumar Shrestha, cinematographer; Narayan Dhoj Panta, production supervisor. A joint performance by actors Bhuwan Chand, Chaitya Devi, Basundhara Bhusal, Sushil Chettri and Bhuwan KC was followed by the three actresses being honoured by Madhav Poudel, Minister of Information and Communications, for their contribution to Nepali cinema.
The audience were taken down the memory lane when most popular songs from the yesteryears like ‘Maiti Ghar’, ‘Mohani Lagla Hai’ along with those from contemporary Nepali cinema were presented in a dance performance by actors Mausami Malla, Nandita KC, Benisha Hamal, Sushil Chettri, etc. Popular singers like Dipak Limbu, Anju Pant and Rajesh Payal Rai also performed their popular songs on the stage.
The award show had 16 different categories which were named after legendary film artists. The winners from each category took home a trophy, a certificate and a cash prize worth Rs 51,000 with the exception of Best Director who was awarded with Rs 1 lakh. The Best Actor (Male and Female) also won a Samsung Galaxy Pad each.
The Winners of National Film Award 2069 are;
´Heera´ Best Film: Saayad
´Prakash´ Best Director: Suraj Subba ‘Nalbo’ (Saayad)
´Bhuwan´ Best Actress: Nita Dhungana (Notebook)
´Shiva´ Best Actor: Jiwan Luitel (Malatiko Bhatti)
´Basundhara´ Best Supporting Actress: Karishma Manandhar (Maya’s Bar)
´Neer´ Best Supporting Actor: Wilson Bikram Rai (Saayad)
´Bhutani´ Best Fight Director: Chandra Pant (Hamesha)
´Sambhujeet´ Best Music Director: Suresh Adhikari
(Maya’s Bar)
´Udit´ Best Singer: Sworupraj Acharya (Rhythm)
´Manju´ Best Cinematographer: Sanjaya Lama (Saayad)
´Pradeep´ Best Sound Mixing: Rajkrishna Shrestha/ Sunayamana Shrestha (Phool)
´Chetan´ Best Script Writer: Suraj Subba ‘Nalbo’- Saayad
´Basanta´ Best Dance Director: Kabiraj Gahatraj (Ke Ma Timro Saathi Banna Sakchu)
´Maha´ Jury Award: Saayad
´Kusume Rumal´ Best Commercial Film: Saayad
´Puskar´ Film Journalism Award: Bidhur Giri