Jury’s bias or dip in standard: Behind the decline of Bengali wins at the National Awards
Times of India | 20 July 2026
KOLKATA: At this year’s National Film Awards, the regional jury selected five Bengali films — Anjan Dutt’s "Chaalchitra Ekhon", Aditya Vikram Sengupta’s "Mayanagar", Saurav Palodhi’s "Onko Ki Kothin", Samik Roychowdhury's "Beline", and Sayan Bandyopadhyay’s "Doaansh" — from a pool of 24 entries to advance for central panel consideration. However, none secured the Swarna Kamal, which was ultimately awarded to "Article 370". This outcome has sparked significant discourse within Tollywood regarding the selection process and the contemporary standing of Bengali cinema.
Across the 72-year span of the National Film Awards, Bengali cinema has claimed the prestigious Best Feature Film honour 22 times and the Best Director award 14 times. However, the first category has not seen a winner in 18 years, while the second has been absent for a dozen years. Film lovers are debating whether this absence reflect a decline in contemporary Tollywood cinema, or if the central jury is simply overlooking Bengali gems.
It is important to distinguish the weight of these accolades within the National Award hierarchy. The Best Feature Film award, symbolized by the Swarna Kamal (Golden Lotus), represents the pinnacle of national recognition, competing against entries from every film-producing language in India. In contrast, the Best Feature Film in Bengali is a Rajat Kamal (Silver Lotus) honour, celebrating excellence specifically within the regional category. While both reflect high artistic merit, the Swarna Kamal signifies a film that has transcended linguistic boundaries to be crowned the finest in the country, a feat that has historically defined the stature of Bengali cinema on the national stage.
Satyajit Ray's "Pather Panchali" was the first Bengali movie to receive the Best Feature Film award in 1955. The legacy continued with Tapan Sinha’s "Kabuliwala" (1956), Debaki Bose’s "Sagar Sangamey" (1958), Ray's "Apur Sansar" (1959) and "Charulata" (1964), Bijoy Bose’s "Bhagini Nivedita" (1961), Sudhir Mukherjee’s "Dada Thakur" (1962), and Sinha’s "Hatey Bajarey" (1967). The era was further defined by Ray’s "Goopy Gyne Bagha Byne" (1968) and "Seemabaddha" (1971), alongside the incisive social commentary of Mrinal Sen in "Chorus" (1974) and "Akaler Shandhaney" (1980). The standard remained high as Goutam Ghose’s "Dakhal" (1981), Utpalendu Chakrabarty’s "Chokh" (1982), and Buddhadeb Dasgupta’s "Bagh Bahadur" (1989) continued to shine, joined by later triumphs including Ray’s "Agantuk" (1991), Dasgupta’s "Charachar" (1993), Rituparno Ghosh’s "Unishe April" (1994), Dasgupta’s "Lal Darja" (1996), "Mondo Meyer Upakhyan" (2002), and "Kaalpurush" (2005). Aniruddha Roy Chowdhury’s "Antaheen" (2008) marked the final win in this category 18 years ago, leaving a significant gap since the last Swarna Kamal.
In the Best Director category, Ray set the benchmark in 1967 with "Chiriyakhana", subsequently winning the laurel again for "Goopy Gyne Bagha Byne" (1968), "Pratidwandi" (1970), "Sonar Kella" (1974), and "Jana Aranya" (1975). The industry’s intellectual depth continued to thrive under Sen’s direction in "Ek Din Pratidin" (1979) and "Akaler Shandhaney" (1980), followed by the poignant narratives of Chakrabarty’s "Chokh" (1982), Ray’s "Agantuk" (1991), and Ghose’s "Padma Nadir Majhi" (1992). As the new century dawned, Dasgupta captured audiences with "Uttara" (1999) and "Swapner Din" (2004), while Ghosh delivered artistic milestones in "Utsab" (2000) and "Abohoman" (2009), complemented by Ghose’s "Abar Aranye" (2003). Srijit Mukherji’s "Chotushkone" (2014) stands as the most recent Bengali win in this category, achieved a dozen years ago. While Sudipto Sen has since received the honour, that recognition was awarded for a Hindi language (“The Kerala Story”).
The east panel jury was chaired by BS Basavaraj, and includes members Surya Deo, Sanjeev Rattan, Tushar Kanti Bandyopadhyay, and Thokchom Jimmy. The central panel jury was chaired by Jayaraj, with members Om Raut, Aseem Bajaj, Priya Krishnaswamy, Rakesh Ranjan, Napoleon RZ Thanga, Meerra Chopraa, Sreelekha Mukherji, Archana Udupa, V N Aditya, and G Kala. According to a source, the east panel jury members recommended 11 films to the central panel this year. Out of these 11, five were in Bengali. The source informed TOI that the other Bengali films submitted for consideration were Kaushik Ganguly's "Ajogyo", Samik Roychowdhury's "Beline", Ishaan Ghosh's "Morichika", Pratim D. Gupta's "Chaalchitro: The Frame Fatale", Parambrata Chattopadhyay's "Ei Raat Tomar Amaar", Soojit Rino Dutta's "Khadaan", Nandita Roy and Shiboprosad Mukherjee's "Aamar Boss", Nandita Roy and Shiboprosad Mukherjee's "Bohurupi", Abhijit Guha and Sudeshna Roy's "Aapish", Indira Dhar Mukkherjee's "Putul", Sarmistha Maiti and Rajdeep Paul's "Mon Potongo", Ram Kamal Mukhopadhyay's "Binodiini - Ekti Natir Upakhyan", Arna Mukhopadhyay's "Athhoi", Shankha Ghosh's "Ratri Japon", Soukarya Ghoshal's "Pokkhirajer Dim", Soukarya Ghosal's "Bhootpori", Premendu Bikash Chaki's "Alaap", Indranil Chakraborty's "Aparna", Reshmi Mitra's "Borobabu" and Poushali Sengupta's "Suchana".
Some frequently cite a decline in quality as a primary reason for the current hiatus despite 24 films in contention for laurels. Film academician Sanjoy Mukhopadhyay agreed, noting that the 21st century has seen a major decline in the quality of Bengali cinema. “Some gems like ‘Mayanagar’ or ‘Bakita Byaktigato’ have been made. But unfortunately, they got ignored. I feel both deserved to win at the national level,” Mukhopadhyay said.
"Mayanagar" director Aditya Vikram Sengupta acknowledges a general drop in standards but remains philosophical about his film’s snub. "I would have been happy if it had won, as it would have helped the film's financial prospects, but I am not disappointed that it didn't," he noted, adding, "The final selection at any award depends on the preferences of the jury. It is all about their taste and preferences. It’s too subjective to be saying something definitive."
Conversely, others refrain from criticizing local production, arguing instead that cinema in other parts of India has simply outpaced the work currently emerging from Bengal. Premendra Mazumder, general secretary of FIPRESCI-India and vice president of Federation of Film Societies of India, will not question the jury’s decision. “Bengali cinema continues to command immense respect across the country. But, it is also true that outstanding films are being made in several other languages, including Malayalam, Marathi and Hindi. Filmmakers from the north-east are also doing very interesting work,” Mazumder said.
Anjan Dutt notices a pan-Indian shift in filmmaking. “National Awards is about celebrating good Indian cinema. There has been a gradual rise in quality of interesting cinema from the South. Then, we saw the rise of filmmakers like Anurag Kashyap. Bengal, in contrast, has seen a decrease in making good cinema rather than commercially viable cinema. Earlier in Bengal, there was certain kind of mainstream cinema and parallel cinema which we all belonged to. Rituparno, Aparna Sen, Aniruddha (Roy Chowdhury), Anik (Dutta), Bappaditya (Bandyopadhyay) and me kept the ball rolling till a point. It was followed up by Srijit (Mukherji). But the drive for making a better kind of cinema which will go to festivals went down,” Dutt said.
He also added that the quality Bengali films that got made in the recent years got a little “lost” in the process. “It is a fact that sometimes we have lost out to great actors too. But it is not right to think that good films are not being made. There have definitely been other films that could have won the main awards. But the focus got lost,” Dutt said. He too pointed at the artistic excellence of “Mayanagar”. “Its cinematography and editing was good. But it didn’t get any National Award.”
Finally, what is significant is the argument that puts the historic success rate of Bengali cinema at the National Awards under the scanner too and asks if it is fair to believe that the previous success may not have always been solely due to qualitative excellence. This perspective suggests that the overwhelming recognition Bengali films till 2014 received may have led to the neglect of meritorious works from other regional film industries. “We are never saying that films of great masters from Bengal including Ray and Sen didn’t deserve the awards. But should we never concern ourselves with the disappointment of filmmakers from other parts of India when Bengal consistently dominated the national stage? Is it fair for us to complain now that films from other states are being lauded?” asked a film activist who did not wish to be named.