Awards & Honours Quiz: National Film Awards and the Dadasaheb Phalke Award

The correct answer is C, 1969. The Dadasaheb Phalke Award was instituted in 1969, which was the birth centenary year of Dhundiraj Govind Phalke, the father of Indian cinema. It is the highest recognition in Indian cinema for a lifetime of outstanding contribution and is given to one person each year.

Option A, 1954, is the year in which the National Film Awards themselves were instituted, and mixing the two years is the commonest error on this topic. Option B, 1961, is not connected with either award. Option D, 1913, is the year in which Phalke released Raja Harishchandra, the first full length Indian feature film, so it is an important date but belongs to the history of the film and not to the founding of the award.

The correct answer is A, Devika Rani. Devika Rani received the first Dadasaheb Phalke Award in 1969. She worked at Bombay Talkies and is often described as the first lady of Indian cinema, and the fact that the first award went to an actress is exactly what examiners like to test.

Option B, Prithviraj Kapoor, was a towering figure of the early stage and screen and did receive the honour, but in a later year and posthumously. Option C, Sohrab Modi, the maker of historical films, also received the award later in its history. Option D, Nargis Dutt, is associated with the award for a film on national integration that carries her name, which is a different honour altogether and is placed here as a distractor.

The correct answer is B, 1954. The National Film Awards were instituted in 1954, and the first set of awards was given for films released in the previous year. They were created to encourage films of aesthetic and technical excellence and of social relevance in every Indian language, which is why regional cinema has always been prominent in the list of winners.

Option A, 1947, is the year of independence and has no connection with the founding of these awards. Option C, 1969, is the year the Dadasaheb Phalke Award was instituted, on the birth centenary of Phalke, and is the most attractive wrong answer here. Option D, 1973, is not associated with the founding of either award and is placed only to complete the set of plausible years.

The correct answer is B, Swarna Kamal. The Swarna Kamal, or Golden Lotus, is the medallion awarded for the highest honours of the National Film Awards, and the Best Feature Film is the chief among them. The award carries a certificate and a cash component along with the medallion.

Option A, Rajat Kamal, or Silver Lotus, is given for the other categories, such as Best Director, Best Actor, Best Actress and the best film in each language, so it is the correct medallion but for a different set of awards. Option C, Tamra Patra, a copper plate, was given to freedom fighters as a token of recognition and has nothing to do with cinema. Option D, Kirti Chakra, is a gallantry award of the armed forces, given for conspicuous courage away from the battlefield.

The correct answer is B, Raja Harishchandra. Dhundiraj Govind Phalke made Raja Harishchandra in 1913, and it is recognised as the first full length Indian feature film. Its success established film making as an Indian enterprise and earned Phalke the title of father of Indian cinema.

Option A, Alam Ara, released in 1931 and directed by Ardeshir Irani, was the first Indian sound film, or talkie, so it marks a different milestone. Option C, Shyamchi Aai, the Marathi film directed by P. K. Atre, won the first Best Feature Film award at the National Film Awards for 1953. Option D, Kisan Kanya, made in 1937, was the first Indian film shot in colour processed in India, again a separate landmark that is often mixed with the others.

The correct answer is B, Ministry of Information and Broadcasting. The National Film Awards are conferred by the Government of India through the Union Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, which appoints the juries for feature films, non feature films and writing on cinema and announces the results each year.

Option A, the Ministry of Culture, administers the Sangeet Natak Akademi, the Sahitya Akademi and the Lalit Kala Akademi, whose awards cover music, dance, drama, literature and the fine arts rather than cinema. Option C, the Ministry of Education, is concerned with schools, higher education and literacy programmes. Option D, the Ministry of Tourism, promotes travel and hospitality and confers its own awards on states and operators, none of which relate to films. An option naming a private film association or an industry federation is wrong for the same reason, because these are state honours.

The correct answer is A, father of Indian cinema. Dhundiraj Govind Phalke is called the father of Indian cinema because he made Raja Harishchandra in 1913, the first full length Indian feature film, and went on to make many more, building the craft of film making in the country almost from nothing.

Option B, father of Indian theatre, is not a title attached to Phalke; the modern Indian stage traces its growth to a number of regional figures and companies rather than to him. Option C, father of Indian photography, is not his title either, although he did train in printing and photography before turning to films. Option D, father of Indian television, is unrelated, as television broadcasting in India began in 1959, long after Phalke's time.

The correct answer is B, Shyamchi Aai. The Marathi film Shyamchi Aai, directed by P. K. Atre and based on the writing of Sane Guruji, won the first Best Feature Film award at the National Film Awards for the year 1953. The choice of a Marathi film for the first honour reflected the intention that the awards would cover every Indian language.

Option A, Do Bigha Zamin, directed by Bimal Roy, belongs to the same period and is a landmark of Indian realist cinema, but it did not take the first Best Feature Film award. Option C, Pather Panchali, directed by Satyajit Ray, was released in 1955 and is celebrated worldwide, which makes it a tempting answer. Option D, Mother India, directed by Mehboob Khan, came in 1957, four years after the year named in the question.

The correct answer is A, one. The Dadasaheb Phalke Award is given to a single person each year for a lifetime of outstanding contribution to the growth and development of Indian cinema, and it is presented along with the National Film Awards. Its exclusivity is the reason it is regarded as the highest honour in Indian cinema.

Option B, two, is wrong because the award has never been designed as a shared annual honour of that kind. Option C, three, corresponds to no rule of this award and is placed only as a plausible number. Option D, five, is far from the practice; the Padma awards and the sporting awards are conferred on many people each year, and it is from those lists that the habit of expecting multiple recipients comes, which is the confusion the question sets out to test.

The correct answer is B, a Swarna Kamal, a cash prize, a shawl and a certificate. The Dadasaheb Phalke Award carries the Swarna Kamal, or Golden Lotus, along with a cash prize, a shawl and a certificate, and it is presented at the National Film Awards ceremony.

Option A is wrong because the Rajat Kamal, or Silver Lotus, is given for the other categories of the National Film Awards and not for this lifetime honour. Option C describes no award in this scheme; a plain gold medal with a scroll belongs to other kinds of recognition. Option D refers to the Padma awards, which are conferred on Republic Day and consist of a medallion and a sanad, or certificate, signed by the President, so it belongs to an entirely different system of honours.

The correct answer is C, 1953. The National Film Awards were instituted in 1954 and the first set of awards honoured films released in 1953, which is why the first Best Feature Film award is recorded against the Marathi film Shyamchi Aai for that year. The practice of judging the previous year's releases has continued ever since.

Option A, 1950, and option B, 1952, are both earlier than the qualifying year and correspond to no award cycle. Option D, 1954, is the year in which the awards were instituted and first presented, and treating it as the year of the films being judged is the mistake the question is designed to catch, since the films honoured were always those of the preceding year. Remembering the pair as instituted in 1954 for the films of 1953 settles both halves of the question at once.