National Film Awards leave Delhi for Ekta Nagar after 72 years

The 72nd National Film Awards will be handed over in Ekta Nagar, the Narmada district town still widely called Kevadia, on 22 September. President Droupadi Murmu is scheduled to present them. An official in the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting confirmed the shift to Hindustan Times on Monday. The ceremony has been tied to Vigyan Bhawan in New Delhi since the prizes began in 1954. Last year's 71st edition was there on 23 September 2025. This is the first planned move out of the capital in 72 years.

Ekta Nagar is the address of the Statue of Unity, the 182-metre figure of Vallabhbhai Patel inaugurated in 2018. The town has been built as a tourism machine around that statue: hotels, a viewing gallery, a light show. Putting the national cinema honours next to it is a location decision with a political accent. It also has a small internal rhyme. Aanand L. Rai won the non-feature best direction prize this year for Statue of Unity – Ekta ka Prateek. The film and the venue now share a hill.

The winners were announced in New Delhi on 18 July. Article 370, directed by Aditya Suhas Jambhale, is best feature film. Yami Gautam takes best actress for the same picture. Mammootty and Kartik Aaryan share best actor for Bramayugam and Chandu Champion. Rajkumar Periasamy wins best direction for the Tamil war film Amaran. Randeep Hooda is best debut director for Swatantrya Veer Savarkar. Kalki 2898 AD is best popular film providing wholesome entertainment. Captain Miller, Arun Matheswaran's Tamil film with Dhanush, is best feature promoting national, social and environmental values. Sanjay Mishra won best supporting actor for Bhakshak.

Those titles sketch the jury's year: a Kashmir security drama, a Malayalam period horror, a sports biopic, a Tamil combat film, a Savarkar biopic, a Telugu science-fiction epic. The ceremony's job is to put the President in a room with that list. Moving the room to Gujarat changes the photographs and the guest logistics. Stars, juries and officials will fly into a town built for statue tourism rather than into central Delhi. The ministry has not published a seating plan or a rain plan. September in the Narmada belt can go either way.

Some reports have Murmu in Gujarat around 23 September for a Maharaja Sayajirao University convocation in Vadodara and a Brahma Kumaris event in Padra, with Ekta Nagar on the same tour. The I&B confirmation for 22 September is the date that should be used until the President's programme is issued. Either way, the honours leave the capital.

The National Film Awards are a state ritual. The President reads the citations. Doordarshan carries the pictures. State governments lobby for a share of the map. Gujarat now has the map pin. Whether this is a one-off tied to the statue or the start of a touring ceremony is the question the next edition will answer. For this year the facts are enough. After 72 years the medals move west, Article 370 is the feature of record, and two actors from two industries will share the same walk to the same lectern at the foot of Patel's statue.