Nargis Dutt Award For Best Feature Film On National Integration - Winners

For an honest and bold depiction of caste conflict in rural India. The film starkly brings out the traditional beliefs which grip the entire rural society including the down-trodden putting an extra chain on the poor in addition to their economic helplessness. Cinematically a very powerful film.

For tracing the history of social evil of untouchability through popular folk drama form, for synthesizing diverse performing arts into socially relevant communication, for depicting the untouchable's fight for their rights.

For focusing on the problems of the society whose orthodoxy inflicts grave injustice on the under-privileged, for the dilemma faced by a Brahmin disciplinarian in confronting his grand-daughter's love for Harijan, for resolving the problem in a rational manner, worthy of the country's best secular traditions.

For its compassionate treatment of the plight of the under-privilaged.

For its sincerity in the portrayal of basic human values that unify mankind.

For preaching, through the life of a great reformer, the universal values of "One Caste, One Religion and One God for Man".

For recreating without compromise the tragic events leading to the communal holocaust at the eve of partition in a Punjab village.

For presenting vertical as well as horiontal social integration on a musical plane and thus offering a cultural revolution as solution to maladies of the rural population.

For its depiction of unity of religions at the popular mystical level illustrated by the life and lyrics of a famous Muslim saint who has a Hindu guru.

For its strong appeal for integration and upholding of human values brought about through a remarkbly understated treatment of incidents from everyday life.

For presenting a thrilling drama of the abduction of an Indian scientist by a self-proclaimed liberation army which later realises the futility of its anti-social activities.

For presenting a panoramic view of India in a period of transition to reveal the goals of nationalism by the integration of a mass disparate materials and shaping them into a coherent saga of Indian nationalism in an epic style.

For mapping a sharply defined dramatic style on to a canvas of national caste oppression and for unversalising the alliances of the Indian Dalit people.

For its bold and sensitive approach to the problem of communal divide and for bringing out the futility of the carnage in the name of religion.

For its brilliant and bold approach to National Integration and the futility of division in the name of religion.

For making an honest statement on patriotism, portraying the gallantry and sacrifies of the Armed forces, thereby instilling a sense of National pride.

For boldly dealing with social and religious strife, communal tensions, violence and disharmony in contemporary times. The film has a message of love and peace that is conveyed in a sensitive way.

For opening a new window to the Jallianwala Bagh episode, which had jolted the conscience of the Indian people.

For tackling the problem of terrorist infiltrations and the army's counter attacks. And situations where armed and civilian forces unite against the common external enemy.

For exploring the problems of a minority in the face of terrorist activities of forces across the border. Against this macro scenario, the film weaves together more intimate micro stories particularly of the bonding between a sensitive bureaucrat and an orphaned boy.

For its humane depiction of the bonding between two individuals of different religious backgrounds in the midst of communal tension.

For exploring the power of human relationships in overcoming social and religious schisms.

Netaji is one of the most controversial and colourful figures of modern Indian history. His struggle to fight the Britishers and bring the Indians together to do this. The idealistic dreamer turns into a revolutionary to achieve his goal. The film effectively brings alive the era.

For the powerful representation of a burning communal issue highlighting the plight of women in the times of religious intolerence.

For depicting the sanctity of loyalty to one's land and amity through a love story set in the times of Hyder Ali.

For powerfully bringing forth the message that humanity is of much greater value than religion. The transformation of an orthodox and superstitious priest is very beautifully depicted.

For its honest look at a burning problem in Northeast India, its attempt to break down artificial boundaries and giving it a human and aesthetic appeal.

For its uncompromising stance towards communal divide and offering a humanistic solution of taking individual responsibility.

For celebrating the union of the human spirit through the life and song of Sufi poets in the Baul tradition.

A tale of communal harmony narrated through an in-house milieu. The bonding between a Hindu and a Muslim lady in a reciprocally accommodating relationship forms the crux of the film.

• - Gita Siddharth
• - Shabana Azmi and Romesh Sharma