Tamil Films Amaran and Dhanush's Raayan Win Big At 72nd National Film Awards
Tamil films dominated the 72nd National Film Awards announced on July 18, 2026, with major wins for director Rajkumar Periasamy's Amaran and Dhanush's Chennai-set drama Raayan. The national awards, which honoured films certified by the Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC) during the 2024 calendar year, recognized a wide array of Tamil actors, filmmakers, and technicians.
Dhanush's neo-noir revenge drama Raayan, which was set in Chennai, secured the award for Best Tamil Film. Produced by Sun Pictures and directed by Dhanush, the film starred SJ Suryah, Sundeep Kishan, Dushara Vijayan, and Kalidas Jayaram. Dhanush himself received a Special Mention from the jury for his lead performance in the period action film Captain Miller. Additionally, the Arun Matheswaran directorial Captain Miller won the award for Best Film Promoting National, Social, Environmental Values.
The biographical drama Amaran emerged as one of the biggest winners of the event, bagging multiple top-tier awards. Filmmaker Rajkumar Periasamy won the Best Direction award, while R Kalaivannan won the award for Best Editing. Composer GV Prakash Kumar secured his third National Film Award for the film's music, sharing the honour with Hindi composer Shaswat Sachdeva, who won for Article 370. Amaran starred Sivakarthikeyan as the real-life Indian Army officer Major Mukund Varadarajan, who was martyred during a counter-terrorism operation in Jammu and Kashmir, alongside Sai Pallavi as his wife, Indhu Rebecca Varghese.
While highly anticipated Tamil films like Meiyazhagan, Vaazhai, Kottukkaali, Thangalaan, and Maharaja missed out on the top film awards, several of their cast and crew members were recognized. Sachana Namidass won the Best Actor in a Supporting Role award for her performance as Jothi in the Vijay Sethupathi-starrer Maharaja, sharing the award with Kannada actor Ropashree Varkady. Action choreographer Anal Arasu also won the Best Action Choreography award for Maharaja.
Sound designer Suren G received a Special Mention for his work on Meiyazhagan. In the non-feature film categories, TS Hari Hara Sudhan won the award for Best Sound Design for the film Blue.
