New Delhi / Dehradun: Madhya Pradesh has bagged the award for Most Film-Friendly State at the National Film Awards announced here.
Uttarakhand and Uttar Pradesh bagged Most Film-Friendly (Special mention) Award.
The 68th National Film Awards were announced at a function here.
"Most film-friendly (special mention) award goes to Uttarakhand and UP. Most film-friendly film state goes to Madhya Pradesh," Neerja Sekhar, Additional Secretary, Ministry of Information and Broadcasting said.
Madhya Pradesh has received the award earlier also. 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.
Producer-director Vipul Shah told ANI, "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. —ANI