The 72nd National Film Awards ceremony will be held at Ekta Nagar in Gujarat on Sept. 22, marking the first time in the awards’ 72-year history that the presentation ceremony will be held outside Delhi. President Droupadi Murmu is scheduled to present the honours, according to a report by the Press Trust of India (PTI) published Sept. 7.
The move takes the ceremony to a location closely associated with Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel and the government’s national-unity messaging. Ekta Nagar, the renamed Kevadia, is home to the Statue of Unity, the 182-metre monument to Patel inaugurated in 2018. The government has developed the surrounding area as a tourism and public-event hub, including for the annual Rashtriya Ekta Diwas celebrations marking Patel’s birth anniversary.
The change of venue also comes as the National Film Awards continue to operate on a timetable that remains behind the years of cinema they recognise. The 70th awards, for films of 2022, were presented in October 2024, while the 71st awards, for films of 2023, were presented in September 2025. The 72nd awards, for films of 2024, were announced in July 2026 and are due to be presented in September.
The disruption became particularly visible during the pandemic period. The 69th awards, for films of 2021, were presented in October 2023, while the 70th, for films of 2022, followed in October 2024. The 70th ceremony had originally been scheduled for May 2023 before being postponed.
There has also been a change in the presentation protocol over the past decade. Traditionally, the President presented the National Film Awards. In 2018, however, President Ram Nath Kovind presented only 11 of the 137 awards, with then Information and Broadcasting Minister Smriti Irani and Minister of State Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore presenting the remainder. The change prompted a boycott by several award recipients.
The following year, the 66th National Film Awards were presented by then Vice President M. Venkaiah Naidu, with I&B Minister Prakash Javadekar attending. The President’s return as presenter was subsequently seen at the 69th, 70th and 71st ceremonies, all presented by Droupadi Murmu in Delhi.
The 72nd ceremony will therefore mark two departures from recent practice: a move away from the traditional Delhi venue and the presentation of the awards by the President at a location outside the national capital.
