National Film Awards categories names on Indira Gandhi, Nargis Dutt dropped

The Regulations of the 70th National Film Awards 2022 released a notification on February 13 announcing that the names of late former prime minister Indira Gandhi and late actor Nargis Dutt will not be used as award names at the upcoming awards ceremony.

The 'Indira Gandhi Award for Best Debut Film' has now been named 'Best Debut Film of a Director' while the 'Nargis Dutt Award for Best Feature Film' has been retitled to 'Best Feature Film Promoting National, Social and Environmental Values'. The categories of social issues and environment conservation have been merged into one.

Best Debut Film of a Director award will be conferred with a Swarna Kamal and Rs 3 lakh while the Best Feature Film award will be given to the producer and director. Both will be awarded with Rajat Kamal and Rs 2 lakh each.

The Indira Gandhi Award for Best Debut Film was earlier named as Award for Best First Film of a Director and in 1984 the name of the former PM was taken up. And it was in 1965, that the Nargis Dutt Award for Best Feature Film on National Integration was taken as a category.

The reason behind the changes is still unknown.