44th National Film Awards
The 44th 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 1996. The awards were announced on 6 May 1997, and presented in July. Awards Awards were divided into feature films, non-feature films and books written on Indian cinema. Lifetime Achievement Award Introduced in 1969, the Dadasaheb Phalke Award is the highest award given to recognise the contributions of film personalities towards the development of Indian cinema and for distinguished contributions to the medium, its growth and promotion. Feature films Feature films were awarded at All India as well as regional level. For 44th National Film Awards, a Bengali film, Lal Darja won the National Film Award for Best Feature Film, whereas a Tamil film, Minsara Kanavu won the maximum number of awards (4). Following were the awards given in each category: Juries A committee headed by T. Subbarami Reddy was appointed to evaluate the feature films awards. Following were the jury members: Jury Members T. Subbarami Reddy (Chairperson)Basu ChatterjeeCharuhasanMadhuMike PandeyNirad N. MohapatraVijaya Mulay Raghav MenonSushma ShiromaniJwngdao BodosaM. S. SathyuG. VenkateswaranD. RamanaiduSwaraj LambaSwapan Kumar Ghosh All India Award