• Film: Lahari
• Category: Best Odia Film (72nd National Film Awards)
• Director: Amartya Bhattacharyya
• Producer: Jhilik Bhattacharjee

• Nodal Authority: Administered by the Directorate of Film Festivals (DFF), which operates under the National Film Development Corporation (NFDC), Ministry of Information and Broadcasting (MoI&B).
• Historical Background: Established in 1954 to encourage the study and appreciation of cinema as an art form and cultural medium.
• Awarding Protocol: The awards are traditionally conferred directly by the President of India.
• Key Procedural Deviation noted in the clip: The 72nd National Film Awards ceremony was hosted outside New Delhi for the first time, held at Ekta Nagar, Gujarat against the backdrop of the Statue of Unity.

Statue of Unity:

• Dedicated to Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel (celebrated annually on National Unity Day / Rashtriya Ekta Diwas on October 31).
• World’s tallest statue at 182 metres.
• Designed by sculptor Ram V. Sutar (Padma Bhushan recipient).

• Eighth Schedule & Eighth Schedule Languages: National Film Awards evaluate films across all languages specified in the Eighth Schedule of the Constitution (including Odia, which was granted Classical Language status in 2014) as well as other recognized dialects and languages.
• Cultural Decentralisation: Moving national award ceremonies outside the national capital aligns with the broader policy push toward regional representation and cultural federalism.
• Cinema as Soft Power: Regional cinema preserves indigenous languages, local traditions, and distinct cultural narratives against homogeneous commercial entertainment.

Regional cinema, the Eighth Schedule of the Constitution, Classical Language status, and the institutional framework of the National Film Awards are recurring OPSC Prelims (Art & Culture) and OPSC Mains GS Paper I topics, especially given Odisha’s Classical Language recognition and this year’s Best Odia Film win for “Lahari.”

For structured notes on Odisha’s art, culture, and language current affairs, aspirants preparing in Bhubaneswar can join the OPSC Foundation Batch at Strive Edge IAS — recognized as one of the best OPSC OAS coaching institutes in Bhubaneswar.