The 68th National Film Awards for films released in 2020 ceremony took place on Friday, September 30, at the Vigyan Bhawan in New Delhi. The 2020 National Film Awards organized by the Directorate of Film Festivals, which comes under the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, honored the films, including the artists and technicians, with Soorarai Pottru, Mandela, and Sivaranjiniyum Innum Sila Pengalum collectively winning the most number of awards - a total of 10 accolades.
Among the accolades for Tamil cinema at the 68th National Film Awards, actors Suriya, Aparna Balamurali, director Sudha Kongara, producer Jyotika, music director G. V. Prakash Kumar, and screenwriter Shalini Usha Nair were honored for their work in the 2020 film, Soorarai Pottru. Suriya received the Best Actor award, which he shared with Hindi actor Ajay Devgn for his performance in Tanhaji - The Unsung Warrior, followed by Aparna Balamurali accepting the Best Actress award for the first time at the National Film Awards ceremony. Actor-producer Jyotika collected the award for Best Feature Film with director Sudha Kongara. The filmmaker also shared the honors for the Best Screenplay with Shalini Usha Nair. Composer G. V. Prakash also received the Best Background Score Award for the first time at the National Film Awards.
Tamil films like Mandela, and Sivaranjiniyum Innum Sila Pengalum too were honored at the 68th National Film Awards in Delhi. Filmmaker Madonne Ashwin received the Indira Gandhi Award for Best Debut Film of Director and Best Screenplay award (Dialogues) for Mandela. Director Vasanth S. Sai accepted the Best Feature Film in Tamil for Sivaranjiniyum Innum Sila Pengalum, with Lakshmi Priyaa Chandramouli and A. Sreekar Prasad accepting the Best Supporting Actress and Best Editing awards for their work in the film, respectively. Tamil cinema has won a total of 10 awards for the year 2020 after 305 films were submitted in the feature films category, while 150 non-feature films competed in 50 categories in 30 different languages.
