Regional Cinema Triumphs at National Film Awards 2022

The 70th National Film Awards saw regional cinema taking center stage, with Malayalam film 'Aattam: The Play' winning Best Feature Film and Rishabh Shetty garnering Best Actor for his role in 'Kantara'. Honours also went to Nithya Menen and Manasi Parekh for Best Actress, while Sooraj R Barjatya was the sole Bollywood presence in top categories, winning Best Director for 'Uunchai'.

Regional cinema dominated the National Film Awards announced on Friday. The top award for Best Feature Film went to the Malayalam movie 'Aattam: The Play', while Rishabh Shetty clinched the Best Actor title for the Kannada film 'Kantara'.

Best Actress accolades were shared by Nithya Menen for the Tamil film 'Thiruchitrambalam' and Manasi Parekh for the Gujarati film 'Kutch Express'. In Bollywood representation, Sooraj R Barjatya was named Best Director for 'Uunchai', a story about four aging friends planning to scale Mt Everest, which also earned Neena Gupta the Best Supporting Actress award.

The ceremony saw Bollywood bag limited wins, with the focus shifting to regional films. 'Fouja' from Haryana was a big winner, securing Best Supporting Actor for Pavan Malhotra and two other awards. The regional dominance underscores a trend towards recognizing diverse storytelling in Indian cinema.