3rd National Film Awards

{{Infobox film awards

| number = 3

| award = National Film Awards

| image =

| alt =

| caption =

| awarded_for = Best of Indian cinema in 1955

| award_org = Ministry of Information and Broadcasting

| presenting_org = Jawaharlal Nehru
{{small|(Prime Minister of India)}}

| announced_date =

| presented_date = {{Start date|df=yes|1956|09}}

| site = Vigyan Bhavan, New Delhi

| host =

| website = [http://dff.nic.in/ dff.nic.in]

| lifetime_achievement =

| best_feature = Pather Panchali

| best_non_feature =

| most_wins = {{*}}Pather Panchali
{{*}}Jhanak Jhanak Payal Baaje (2)

| last = 2nd

| next = 4th

}}

The 3rd National Film Awards, then known as State Awards for Films, presented by Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, India to felicitate the best of Indian Cinema released in the year 1955.{{cite web|url=http://dff.nic.in/images/Documents/111_3rdNfacatalogue.pdf|title=3rd National Film Awards|publisher=Directorate of Film Festivals|access-date=2 September 2020|archive-date=2 October 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191002035740/https://www.dff.nic.in/images/Documents/111_3rdNfacatalogue.pdf|url-status=live}} Ceremony took place at Vigyan Bhavan, New Delhi in September 1956 and awards were given by Prime Minister of India, Jawaharlal Nehru.

Juries

Three different committees were formed based on the film making sectors in India, mainly based in Bombay, Calcutta and Madras. Another committee for all India level was also formed which included some of the members from regional committee. For 3rd National Film Awards, central committee was headed by C. D. Deshmukh.

Jury Members: Central
C. D. Deshmukh (Chairperson){{•}}M. D. Bhat{{•}}N. K. Siddhanta{{•}}W. S. Krishnaswami Nayudu{{•}}Ammu Swaminathan{{•}}Sucheta Kriplani{{•}}Ramdhari Singh Dinkar{{•}}Syed Nurullah{{•}}Ardhendu Mukerjee{{•}}D. Ramanujam{{•}}Sudhir Mukerjee
Jury Regional: Bombay
M. D. Bhat (Chairperson){{•}}Pandit Narendra Sharma{{•}}P. N. Arora{{•}}Jayant Desai{{•}}M. R. Palande{{•}}Jagdish Sethi
Jury Regional: Calcutta
N. K. Siddhanta (Chairperson){{•}}Sabita Devi{{•}}S. K. Mukerjee{{•}}Tarasankar Bandyopadhyay{{•}}Kalidas Nag{{•}}Sudhir Mukerjee
Jury Regional: Madras
W. S. Krishnaswami Nayudu (Chairperson){{•}}Manjubhashini{{•}}Mu. Varadarajan{{•}}R. Subbarao{{•}}A. Ramaiah{{•}}A. Aiyapan{{•}}V. K. Gokak{{•}}S. M. Naidu

Awards

Awards were divided into feature films and non-feature films.

President's gold medal for the All India Best Feature Film is now better known as National Film Award for Best Feature Film, whereas President's gold medal for the Best Documentary Film is analogous to today's National Film Award for Best Non-Feature Film. For children's films, Prime Minister's gold medal is now given as National Film Award for Best Children's Film. At the regional level, President's silver medal for Best Feature Film is now given as National Film Award for Best Feature Film in a particular language. Certificate of Merit in all the categories is discontinued over the years.

= Feature films =

Feature films were awarded at All India as well as regional level. For 3rd National Film Awards, Pather Panchali, a Bengali film by a debutant director Satyajit Ray won the President's gold medal for the All India Best Feature Film. Following were the awards given:

== All India Award ==

For 3rd National Film Awards, none of the films were awarded from Children's films category as no film was found to be suitable.

class="wikitable sortable" style="width:95%"
scope="col" rowspan="2" style="background-color:#EFE4B0;width:33%;"\|Award ! scope="col" rowspan="2" style="background-color:#EFE4B0;width:20%;"\|Film ! scope="col" rowspan="2" style="background-color:#EFE4B0;width:10%;"\|Language ! scope="col" colspan="2" style="background-color:#EFE4B0;width:32%;"\|Awardee(s)
scope="col" style="background-color:#EFE4B0;" \| Producer !scope="col" style="background-color:#EFE4B0;" \| Director
President's gold medal for the All India Best Feature Film \|Pather Panchali \|Bengali \|Government of West Bengal \|Satyajit Ray
rowspan="2" \| All India Certificate of Merit \|Jhanak Jhanak Payal Baaje \|Hindi \|Rajkamal Kalamandir \|V. Shantaram
Shirdi Che Sai Baba \|Marathi \|Nandadeep chitra \|Kumarsen Samarth

class="wikitable sortable" style="width:95%"

scope="col" rowspan="2" style="background-color:#EFE4B0;width:33%;"|Award

! scope="col" rowspan="2" style="background-color:#EFE4B0;width:20%;"|Film

! scope="col" rowspan="2" style="background-color:#EFE4B0;width:10%;"|Language

! scope="col" colspan="2" style="background-color:#EFE4B0;width:32%;"|Awardee(s)

scope="col" style="background-color:#EFE4B0;" | Producer

!scope="col" style="background-color:#EFE4B0;" | Director

President's gold medal for the All India Best Feature Film

|Pather Panchali

|Bengali

|Government of West Bengal

|Satyajit Ray

rowspan="2" | All India Certificate of Merit

|Jhanak Jhanak Payal Baaje

|Hindi

|Rajkamal Kalamandir

|V. Shantaram

Shirdi Che Sai Baba

|Marathi

|Nandadeep chitra

|Kumarsen Samarth

== Regional Award ==

With 3rd National Film Awards, new award category was introduced for the feature films made in Assamese language. This newly introduced category includes President's silver medal for Best Feature Film in Assamese and Certificate of Merit for second and third best film, although former was not given as no film was found suitable for the award.

The awards were given to the best films made in the regional languages of India. For 3rd National Film Awards, President's silver medal for Best Feature Film was not given in Assamese, Bengali, Hindi, Kannada and Tamil language; instead Certificate of Merit was awarded in each particular language.

class="wikitable sortable" style="width:95%"
scope="col" rowspan="2" style="background-color:#EFE4B0;width:33%;"\|Award ! scope="col" rowspan="2" style="background-color:#EFE4B0;width:30%;"\|Film ! scope="col" colspan="2" style="background-color:#EFE4B0;width:32%;"\|Awardee(s)
scope="col" style="background-color:#EFE4B0;" \| Producer !scope="col" style="background-color:#EFE4B0;" \| Director
style="background-color:#F4F4F4" \|colspan="4"\|*Feature Films in Assamese*
style="background-color:#FCFCFC" \|Certificate of Merit \|Piyali Phukan \|Rupajyoti Productions \|Phani Sarma
style="background-color:#F4F4F4" \|colspan="4"\|*Feature Films in Bengali*
style="background-color:#FCFCFC" \|President's silver medal for Best Feature Film \|Pather Panchali \|Government of West Bengal \|Satyajit Ray
style="background-color:#FCFCFC" \|rowspan="2"\|Certificate of Merit \|Rani Rashmoni \|Chalachitra Pratishthan \|Kali Prasad Ghosh
style="background-color:#FCFCFC" \|Rai Kamal \|Aurora Films Corporation \|Subodh Mitra
style="background-color:#F4F4F4" \|colspan="4"\|*Feature Films in Hindi*
style="background-color:#FCFCFC" \|President's silver medal for Best Feature Film \|Jhanak Jhanak Payal Baaje \|Rajkamal Kalamandir \|V. Shantaram
style="background-color:#FCFCFC" \|rowspan="2"\|Certificate of Merit \|Shree 420 \|R. K. Films \|Raj Kapoor
style="background-color:#FCFCFC" \|Devdas \|Bimal Roy Productions \|Bimal Roy
style="background-color:#F4F4F4" \|colspan="4"\|*Feature Films in Kannada*
style="background-color:#FCFCFC" \|Certificate of Merit \|Mahakavi Kalidasa \|Lalitakala Film Private Ltd. \|Honnappa Bhagavatar
style="background-color:#F4F4F4" \|colspan="4"\|*Feature Films in Marathi*
style="background-color:#FCFCFC" \|President's silver medal for Best Feature Film \|Me Tulas Tujhya Angani \|Nav Chitra \|Raja Thakur
style="background-color:#FCFCFC" \|Certificate of Merit \|Shevagyachya Shenga \|Sadashiv Row J. Kavi \|Shantaram Athavale
style="background-color:#F4F4F4" \|colspan="4"\|*Feature Films in Tamil*
style="background-color:#FCFCFC" \|Certificate of Merit \|Mangaiyar Thilakam \|Vaidya Films \|L. V. Prasad
style="background-color:#F4F4F4" \|colspan="4"\|*Feature Films in Telugu*
style="background-color:#FCFCFC" \|President's silver medal for Best Feature Film \|Bangaru Papa \|Vauhini Productions \|B. N. Reddy
style="background-color:#FCFCFC" \|Certificate of Merit \|Ardhangi \|Ragini Films \|P. Pullaiah

class="wikitable sortable" style="width:95%"

scope="col" rowspan="2" style="background-color:#EFE4B0;width:33%;"|Award

! scope="col" rowspan="2" style="background-color:#EFE4B0;width:30%;"|Film

! scope="col" colspan="2" style="background-color:#EFE4B0;width:32%;"|Awardee(s)

scope="col" style="background-color:#EFE4B0;" | Producer

!scope="col" style="background-color:#EFE4B0;" | Director

style="background-color:#F4F4F4"

|colspan="4"|Feature Films in Assamese

style="background-color:#FCFCFC"

|Certificate of Merit

|Piyali Phukan

|Rupajyoti Productions

|Phani Sarma

style="background-color:#F4F4F4"

|colspan="4"|Feature Films in Bengali

style="background-color:#FCFCFC"

|President's silver medal for Best Feature Film

|Pather Panchali

|Government of West Bengal

|Satyajit Ray

style="background-color:#FCFCFC"

|rowspan="2"|Certificate of Merit

|Rani Rashmoni

|Chalachitra Pratishthan

|Kali Prasad Ghosh

style="background-color:#FCFCFC"

|Rai Kamal

|Aurora Films Corporation

|Subodh Mitra

style="background-color:#F4F4F4"

|colspan="4"|Feature Films in Hindi

style="background-color:#FCFCFC"

|President's silver medal for Best Feature Film

|Jhanak Jhanak Payal Baaje

|Rajkamal Kalamandir

|V. Shantaram

style="background-color:#FCFCFC"

|rowspan="2"|Certificate of Merit

|Shree 420

|R. K. Films

|Raj Kapoor

style="background-color:#FCFCFC"

|Devdas

|Bimal Roy Productions

|Bimal Roy

style="background-color:#F4F4F4"

|colspan="4"|Feature Films in Kannada

style="background-color:#FCFCFC"

|Certificate of Merit

|Mahakavi Kalidasa

|Lalitakala Film Private Ltd.

|Honnappa Bhagavatar

style="background-color:#F4F4F4"

|colspan="4"|Feature Films in Marathi

style="background-color:#FCFCFC"

|President's silver medal for Best Feature Film

|Me Tulas Tujhya Angani

|Nav Chitra

|Raja Thakur

style="background-color:#FCFCFC"

|Certificate of Merit

|Shevagyachya Shenga

|Sadashiv Row J. Kavi

|Shantaram Athavale

style="background-color:#F4F4F4"

|colspan="4"|Feature Films in Tamil

style="background-color:#FCFCFC"

|Certificate of Merit

|Mangaiyar Thilakam

|Vaidya Films

|L. V. Prasad

style="background-color:#F4F4F4"

|colspan="4"|Feature Films in Telugu

style="background-color:#FCFCFC"

|President's silver medal for Best Feature Film

|Bangaru Papa

|Vauhini Productions

|B. N. Reddy

style="background-color:#FCFCFC"

|Certificate of Merit

|Ardhangi

|Ragini Films

|P. Pullaiah

= Non-Feature films =

Non-feature film awards were given for the documentaries made in the country. Following were the awards given:

== Documentaries ==

class="wikitable sortable" style="width:95%"
scope="col" rowspan="2" style="background-color:#EFE4B0;width:33%;"\|Award ! scope="col" rowspan="2" style="background-color:#EFE4B0;width:20%;"\|Film ! scope="col" rowspan="2" style="background-color:#EFE4B0;width:10%;"\|Language ! scope="col" colspan="2" style="background-color:#EFE4B0;width:32%;"\|Awardee(s)
scope="col" style="background-color:#EFE4B0;" \| Producer !scope="col" style="background-color:#EFE4B0;" \| Director
President's gold medal for the Best Documentary Film \|Magic of Mountains \|English \|Films Division \| Mushir Ahmed
rowspan="2"\|Certificate of Merit \|Wonder of Work \|English \|Films Division \|
Education for Life \|English \|Ama Ltd. \|

class="wikitable sortable" style="width:95%"

scope="col" rowspan="2" style="background-color:#EFE4B0;width:33%;"|Award

! scope="col" rowspan="2" style="background-color:#EFE4B0;width:20%;"|Film

! scope="col" rowspan="2" style="background-color:#EFE4B0;width:10%;"|Language

! scope="col" colspan="2" style="background-color:#EFE4B0;width:32%;"|Awardee(s)

scope="col" style="background-color:#EFE4B0;" | Producer

!scope="col" style="background-color:#EFE4B0;" | Director

President's gold medal for the Best Documentary Film

|Magic of Mountains

|English

|Films Division

| Mushir Ahmed