The 25th National Film Awards, presented by Directorate of Film Festivals, the organisation set up by Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, India to felicitate the best of Indian Cinema released in the year 1977. Ceremony took place on 27 April 1978.
Juries
Two different committees were formed for feature films and short films, headed by Ebrahim Alkazi and Ashok Mitra respectively.
Jury Members: Feature Films Ebrahim Alkazi (Chairperson)Thakazhi Sivasankara PillaiAdya RangacharyaKa. Naa. SubramanyamSundari K. Shridharani Firoze RangoonwallaRita Ray (Kobita Sarkar)N. S. RamachandranK. M. AlmadiK. S. DuggalRaghuveer Chaudhari Allauddin KhanSwapan MullickA. ViswamR. D. MathurM. K. Raina Jury Members: Short Films Ashok Mitra (Chairperson)M. N. KapurKapila VatsyayanR. N. Pande
Awards
Awards were divided into feature films and non-feature films.
Lifetime Achievement Award
Name of AwardImageAwardee(s)Awarded AsAwardsDadasaheb Phalke AwardNitin BoseCinematographer, Director and ScreenwriterSwarna Kamal, 40,000 and a Shawl
Feature films
Feature films were awarded at All India as well as regional level. For 25th National Film Awards, a Kannada film, Ghatashraddha won the President's Gold Medal for the All India Best Feature Film also winning the maximum number of awards (three). Following were the awards given in each category:
All India Award
Following were the awards given:
Name of AwardName of FilmLanguageAwardee(s)Cash prizeBest Feature FilmGhatashraddhaKannadaProducer: Sadanand SuvarnaSwarna Kamal and 40,000Director: Girish KasaravalliRajat Kamal and 20,000Citation: For lifting the creative cinema of that region to new levels of artistic excellence, for delicacy of treatment and subtle use of the film medium, for the shifting perspective through which the tragic solution is revealed, for projecting the painful, tremulous transition from innocence to experience, for searing intellectual honesty, for the fusion of all the elements into a form so distinctive as to declare it a masterpiece.Best Feature Film with Mass Appeal, Wholesome Entertainment and Aesthetic ValueSwamiHindiProducer: Jaya Chakravarthy Swarna KamalDirector: Basu ChatterjeeRajat KamalCitation: 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.Best Children's FilmSafed HaathiHindiProducer: R. A. Jalan, Pratap AgarwalSwarna Kamal and 15,000Director: Tapan SinhaRajat Kamal and 10,000Citation: For a film with which a quiet realism evokes the fascination and mystery of the jungle; for its mature emphasis on the harmonious relationship between man and nature; for the personal empathy portrayed between a child and creatures of the forest; for a story of lyrical charm and gripping adventure which educates even as it entertains children and grown-ups alike.Best DirectionKanchana SitaMalayalamG. AravindanRajat Kamal and 20,000Citation: For its courageous and uncompromising exploration of an ancient epic through a pronouncedly new cinematic language, for making the camera speak more eloquently than the introspective characters of the Ramayana, for projecting the interior landscape of the protagonists against the vast backdrop of nature, for matching profound philosophical ideas with astonishing evocations of the beauties of the physical world.Best ScreenplayBhumikaHindiSatyadev DubeyShyam BenegalGirish KarnadRajat Kamal and 10,000Citation: For powerfully recreating the biography of an actress, for its rare, psychological insights and understanding of human relationships, for the complex integration of theme, style and dramatic situation into an engrossing whole, which provokes the spectator into a new awareness of the predicament of the working woman in Indian society.Best ActorKodiyettamMalayalamGopiRajat Kamal and 10,000Citation: For an uncanny, truthful and subtle portrayal of a nondescript village character, carrying almost imperceptibly his slow inner transformation through normal tribulations of life into new awakening of consciousness, of feeling and of responsibility, for the artless unfolding of character which is evidence of acting ability of high aesthetic order.Best ActressBhumikaHindiSmita PatilRajat Kamal and 10,000Citation: For a brilliantly sustained performance, powerful and impassioned, of a complex unconventional character; for the poignant portrayal of a confused woman, harassed, importuned and exploited by the men in her life, driven into a bitter self-questioning loneliness; for vividly drawing the dual roles of woman and actress, the private life and public visage; with rare sensibility and discrimination and a perpetual sense of the ironic.Best Child ArtistGhatashraddhaKannadaAjit KumarRajat Kamal and 5,000Citation: For depicting with rare sensitivity, a child's growth into awareness of the coarseness and brutality of the adult world, for his silent struggle to retain his innocence and his natural sense of justice; for his poetic evocation of the child's response to the slowly unfolding mysteries of life, the trivial, the brutal and tragic being inextricable elements of human experience.Best Music DirectionGhatashraddhaKannadaB. V. KaranthRajat Kamal and 10,000Citation: For employing the resources of sacred and folk music with unerring skill and sensitivity so as to create an atmosphere of subdued pain and loneliness and to lead the poignant theme to its tragic denouement through the tortured process of its unfolding; for the modulation of effects in terms of sound, covering music in all its variegated range within their span, for heightening the mood in each sequence, almost imperceptibly; for creating art at its concealed best.Best Male Playback SingerHum Kisise Kum NaheenHindiMohammed RafiRajat Kamal and 10,000Citation: For a golden voice, with resonant timbre and charm, highly cultivated to convey the nuances of melodies based on classical and light classical ragas with as much ease and felicity as tunes set to the lilt of light music; for the sheer brilliance of form and content in his powerful interpretations; for a distinctive personal style.Best Female Playback SingerPathinaru VayathinileTamilS. JanakiRajat Kamal and 10,000Citation: For purity of diction and melodic excellence; for emotive suggestiveness and lyrical appeal; for a quality of expression which is intensely moving; for rendering the theme song "Senthoora Poove" with deep feeling, reflecting the romantic dreams of youth, slowly merging into the shadows of tragic destiny.Best Cinematography (Black and White)KokilaKannadaBalu MahendraRajat Kamal and 5,000Citation: For smooth, crisp and immaculate camera work; for the clear, sensitive and discreet portrayal of beings in the first flush of youth; for seizing with a certain lyrical grace their romantic yearnings, their gay abandon, their zest and effervescence, their charming narcissism; for using the camera creatively to project their languid world of gossamer dreams out of which they are roused by the bitter harshness of reality.Best Cinematography (Color)Shatranj Ke KhilariHindiSoumendu RoyRajat Kamal and 5,000Citation: For capturing in meticulous detail the opulent splendor of the court of Wajid Ali Shah; for using colour with discrimination and taste to evoke the distinctive decadent flavor of the period and to provide psychological insights into the characters; for projecting the action through a framework of shifting perspectives, thereby providing a movable feast for the eyes, for establishing by pointed contrast the somber hues and subdued functionalism of the environment of General Outram, emphasising by such means the furtive manoeuvring for power; for using the camera to create a visual tapestry, rich in the clash of conflicting events, ideologies and responsibilities.Best Sound RecordingGodhuliHindiS. P. RamanathanRajat Kamal and 5,000Citation: For recording great clarity and precision, creating a beautifully modulated tone poem of the various elements; of human speech, of atmospheric effects, of natural sound and vision which makes one live within the film; for superb technical quality which helps to enhance the meaning and impact of a thought-provoking film.Best EditingInkaarHindiWaman BhonsleGurudutt ShiraliRajat Kamal and 5,000Citation: For thrilling sequences which are evidence of extraordinary editorial virtuosity, establishing pace and tempo, brilliantly orchestrated in relation to the swift, suspenseful action; for cutting and montage of such dexterous facility as to conceal the skill which enables the dramatic power to explode across the screen from time to time with stunning impact.
Regional Award
The awards were given to the best films made in the regional languages of India. For feature films in Bengali, English, Hindi, Kashmiri, Meitei and Punjabi, award for Best Feature Film was not given.