69th National Film Awards 2023 Telugu winners list: RRR, Pushpa win big; Konda Polam and Uppena spring a surprise

Amidst humungous anticipation, the 69th edition of the National Film Awards 2023 were announced this evening in Delhi. The jury of the feature film section was headed by noted filmmaker Ketan Mehta. He had said that there were limited entries in the categories, given 2021 was a year where the second wave of COVID-19 wreaked havoc across the country.

There were several surprises among the winners list in Telugu language especially. While RRR won across six categories, Pushpa sprung a surprise by winning in two categories. The other two notable wins were for Kondapolam and Uppena. On the whole, Telugu cinema registered wins in 10 categories - the best ever tally for the industry in the recent years.

RRR was expected to win awards across multiple categories and they did eventually - in six of them including Best Stunt Direction (King Solomon), Best Choreography (Prem Rakshith), Best Special Effects (V Srinivas Mohan), Best Background Score (MM Keeravaan), Best Male Singer (Kaala Bhairava - Komuram Bheemudo), Best Film Providing Wholesome Entertainment.

Also read: Pushpa The Rise review: Allu Arjun is in sparkling form in this action spectacle

Pushpa amassed wins in two major categories - Best Music Director (Devi Sri Prasad) and Best Actor Male (Allu Arjun). In what could be told as an unforeseen addition to the list, Uppena was named the Best Telugu Film. Kondapolam, the Krish director, fetched lyricist Chandrabose his first national award for the song Dham Dham Dham (which had music by MM Keeravaani).

A Telugu journalist named Purushothama Charyulu was named the Best Film Critic as well. While RRR is available to stream on Netflix, Disney+ Hotstar and ZEE5, Pushpa and Kondapolam can be watched on Amazon Prime Video. Uppena, starring Vaisshnav Tej, Krithi Shetty, is streaming on Netflix.

Telugu winners list

Uppena - Best Telugu film

King Solomon (RRR) - Best Stunt direction

Prem Rakshith (RRR) - Best Choreography

V Srinivas Mohan (RRR) - Best Special effects

Chandrabose (Kondapolam - Dham dham dham) - Best Lyricist

Devi Sri Prasad (Pushpa) - Best Music Director

MM Keeravaani (RRR) - Best Background score

Kaala Bhairva (RRR - Komuram Bheemudo) - Best singer male

Allu Arjun (Pushpa) - Best actor

RRR - Best Film Providing Wholesome Entertainment

Also read: RRR movie review: SS Rajamouli's compelling period drama is visual grandeur with a purpose