On Thursday at the 69th National Awards, “Rocketry: The Nambi Effect” won Best Film Award. The film follows Nambi Narayanan’s (Actor, R.Madhavan) life and hardships while he worked as a senior scientist for ISRO and later faced allegations of espionage. He fought the case, won complete exoneration, and even forced the police to pay him damages for unjustified incarceration and anguish.

At a press conference held in New Delhi, the awards were declared. For their performances in “Gangubai Kathiawadi” and “Mimi,” respectively, Alia Bhatt and Kriti Sanon shared the Best Actress prize, while Allu Arjun won for “Pushpa: The Rise.” Best Supporting Actor for “Mimi” was awarded to Pankaj Tripathi, while Best Supporting Actress for “The Kashmir Files,” which received the Nargis Dutt Award for Best Film on National Integration, went to Pallavi Joshi.

The prizes, originally called as “State Awards,” were presented for the first time in 1954. Only the best films in various regional languages were recognized and honoured at the time. The inaugural acting and technical achievement awards were presented in 1967. For her work in Raat Aur Din, Nargis became the first actor to receive Best Actress. In the same year, Uttam Kumar received the Best Actor award for Chiriyakhana and Antony Firingee.