National Film Award For Best Popular Film Providing Wholesome Entertainment - Winners

For a taut script, for restrained, mature and dignified performances (especially by Girish Karnad), for meticulous attention to detail, for maintaining the spirit of the original story and translating it into the film medium with effectiveness and grace, for giving an old theme a contemporary relevance, for providing that it is possible to make a film with popular appeal without surrendering psychological truth or artistic values.

For brilliant picturisation of modern literary classic. Like the novel, film succeeds in capturing a whole era in transition. Steering clear of both commercial vulgarisation and pretentiousness, the film uses all the cinematic, to effectively communicate to the masses.

For its entertaining presentation of a complex contemporary social problem – the disintegration of the joint family.

For its innovative approach to entertainment.

For presenting fresh and clean charm on celluloid with discerning imagination.

For providing clean and romantic entertainment illuminated with smooth performances and fresh lyrics in folk form.

For its innovative approach in depicting youthful passion.

For being thematically highly credible, emotionally very well-woven, logically executed, and technically superb film.

For its delighful rendering of a family saga into a heartwarming musical film.

For handling an unusual subject of psychological aberration in a conservative society and the ultimate acceptance of a modern approach.

For its convincing presentation of the theme of love, which has been rendered complex by its relationship with past experiences of fear.

For revolutionising mass entertainment in India with a family entertainer and a fantasy film that succeeds without recourse to familiar narrative idioms of violence.

For providing meaningful family entertainment through a simple love story with kindness and sensitivity.

For powerful depiction of Punjab situation, exploring the trauma, conflict and tragedy of the youth in Punjab.

For its clean, fun-loving portrayal of young people in the film that moves effortlessly and avoids any signs of violence or vulgarity.

For the irresistible charm and universal appeal of its story, music, dance and performances.

For its engrossing projection of an honest officer, who fights engineered subversion which fuels suspicion and sours relationship between two communities. A bold subject for the debut film of a director in mainstream cinema.

For its sincere projection of the values of a joint family and the need to share good and difficult times together.

For showing the victory of the human spirit in the face of oppression and for the creative use of a Cricket game as a metaphor for both colonisation and nationalism.

For its technical finesse and its modern reinterpretation of an enduring classic.

For dealing with social issues with humour and compassion.

For invoking a touching tale of love highlighting the importance of human relationship above man-made boundaries.

For invoking nostalgia in a manner that is powerful yet poetic.

For creating popular appeal that captures the angst of the younger generation with compassion and imagination.

For revalidating the philosophy of non-violence in a strife-torn world and helping rediscover the Gandhi within the common man.

For thoroughly entertaining the audience, making one proud to be an Indian. A masterpiece of inspired filmmaking.

For its intelligent treatment of an off-beat subject that makes it different within the popular format.

For an intelligent entertainer that touches upon the contemporary concerns of society with great humour and engaging performances.

For answering the need of cinegoers for entertainment rooted in Indian soil.

For redefining conventional notions of modern entertainment and still gaining acceptance in the mainstream. The director boldly sets out to narrate a fable revolving around temple rituals within a completely realistic framework of farmers, politicians and the poor families of rural Tamil Nadu. His engagement with filmic language is as robust as the emotional graphs charted out by a massive ensemble of characters.

A wholesome entertainer presented in a breezy and humorous fashion. The film-maker has deftly avoided falling into the beaten track of formula films by presenting the sensitive subject of sperm donation without pandering to the baser instincts of the average viewer.

An excellent advertisement for ‘Desi Enterprise’, the film conveys a strong message of seeking realization, compassion and contentment through service to the society at large!