Bhopal (Madhya Pradesh): The state has bagged the award for Most Film-Friendly State at the 68th National Film Awards announced at national media centre in New Delhi.
The state has received the award for the second time after 2017. There were 13 states which participated in this category of National Film Award.
"Most film-friendly state award goes to Madhya Pradesh while most film-friendly (special mention) award goes to Uttarakhand and UP," Neerja Sekhar, Additional Secretary, Ministry of Information and Broadcasting said.
A 10-member jury led by director-producer Vipul Shah met Union Information and Broadcasting Minister Anurag Thakur on Friday morning to submit its report on the 68th National Film Awards.
This year, there are 50 categories with over 300 feature films and 150 non-feature films competing for the prizes. There are 30 different languages in the movies.
Apart from chairperson Shah, the jury members included cinematographer Dharam Gulati, National award-winning fame Bengali actor Sreelekha Mukherjee, cinematographer GS Bhaskar, A Karthikraaja, VN Aditya, Viji Thampi, Sanjeev Rattan, S Thangadurai and Nishigandha.
Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan has congratulated all the citizens of the state, officials of the tourism department and the people associated with the film industry for the achievement. He has invited the tourists to explore the natural beauty and historical heritage of the state.
On the other hand, Tourism and Culture Minister Usha Thakur has described the achievement as a matter of pride. She has congratulated Principal Secretary Tourism Shiv Shekhar Shukla and officials of the Tourism Department.
Producer-director Vipul Shah said, "It has been heartening to see the kind of response that was received and the number of films that we got to see. And these were very difficult COVID times during which these films were either made or being made." Chitrartha Singh who headed the non-feature jury stated, "We have been able to review close to 140 non-feature films including documentaries and it is amazing to see the kind of content that has come forth, especially from areas like the north-east." Journalist Anant Vijay chaired the Best Writing on Cinema category.
(with inputs from Agency)
