Mammootty and Kartik Aaryan shared the 72nd National Film Awards Best Actor prize when the honours were announced on Saturday in New Delhi. The split put Malayalam and Bollywood in the same top acting slot, with Mammootty recognised for Bramayugam and Kartik Aaryan for Chandu Champion.
New Delhi lists the winners
The Ministry of Information and Broadcasting announced the 72nd National Film Awards, and the best actor result stood out because it was divided rather than handed to one performer. That is the practical headline here: two films, two industries, one top acting award, which gives the jury room to spread recognition across language lines instead of forcing a single winner.
Mammootty’s win for Bramayugam gives Malayalam one half of the category, while Kartik Aaryan’s selection for Chandu Champion gives Bollywood the other. For readers tracking awards-season momentum, that split means the acting race is not being treated as a zero-sum contest; the jury used the category to recognize distinct performances from different commercial lanes.
Bramayugam and Chandu Champion
Best actor prizes are usually read as a direct ranking, but this result turns the category into a shared finish. That matters because it tells filmmakers and studios that the awards body was willing to split the highest male acting honor between two performances rather than compress the year into one headline name.
Yami Gautam also won best actress for Article 370, and Article 370 won best feature film, while Rajkumar Periasamy took best director for Amaran. Those results widen the picture around the acting split: the awards did not isolate one performance type or one language slate, and the year’s top prizes were spread across multiple titles.
Sachana Namidass and Ropashree Varkady
Sachana Namidass for Maharaja and Ropashree Varkady for Mithya shared best actress in a supporting role, which mirrors the best actor split in the lead categories. Sanjay Mishra won best actor in a supporting role for Bhakshak, another sign that the awards were comfortable dividing attention rather than forcing every honor into a single name.
The open question is the one the result leaves behind: what criteria led the jury to split the best actor award between Mammootty and Kartik Aaryan? The answer will shape how this year’s National Film Awards are read inside Malayalam and Bollywood alike, because the decision was not just about winners — it was about how the award system chose to compare performances across languages.
