In his address, the President, Pranab Mukherjee said, "I take this opportunity to reflect upon an important aspect of cinema.

Speaking on the occasion, Minister for Information and Broadcasting, Manish Tewari, said that the national film awards were reflective of the heterogeneity of our film industry, an industry which was a confluence of many Indian languages, be it Hindi, Punjabi, Bengali, Malayalam, Tamil, Kannada, Assamese, Gujarati, Marathi, Bhojpuri, Telugu, Oriya etc.

The highlight of the evening was the conferring of the 45th Dada Saheb Phalke Award to Gulzar, the veteran film lyricist, director, screen writer, producer and poet. The award is given by the Government of India for outstanding contribution to the growth and development of Indian Cinema. The award consists of a Swarn Kamal (Golden Lotus), a cash prize of Rs.10 lakhs and a shawl. A total of 41 awards were given by the President in the Non-Feature film category while the number of awards in Feature Film category being 40. Three awards were given to Best Writing on Cinema.

At the 61st NFA, the award for the best feature film was conferred on Ship of Theseus(English-Hindi) produced by Recyclewala Films Pvt Ltd and directed by AnandGandhi . In non-feature film category, the award for the Best Film was conferred to Rangbhoomi (Hindi) produced by Films Divisionand directed by Kamal Swaroop. In the category of Best Writing on Cinema section, the book Cinema Ga Cinema(Telugu)written by Nandagopal and published by Praga India, Hyderabad bagged the top honour, whereas AlakaSahani (English) was conferred the award for the Best film Critic.

In the Feature Film category, a total of 40 films were selected for the 61st National Awards. Fandry (Marathi) won the Indira Gandhi award for the Best Debut Film of a Director. The award for the Best Popular Film for providing wholesome entertainment was given to Bhaag Milkha Bhaag (Hindi). The award for the Best Director was given to Hansal Mehta for the film Shahid (Hindi). The award for the Best Actor was jointly shared between Raj Kumar for Shahid (Hindi) and Suraj Venjaramoodu for the film Perariyathavar (Malayalam). The award for the Best Actress was conferred on Geetanjali Thapa for her performance in Liar’s Dice (Hindi). The award for the best Supporting Actor was conferred on Saurabh Shukla for the film Jolly LLB (Hindi). The award for the best supporting Actress has been shared by Amruta Subhash for the film Astu (Marathi) and Aida El-Kasheffor the film Ship of Theseus (English-Hindi). The Best Child Artist award has been shared by Master Somnath Avghadefor Fandry (Marathi) and Sadhana for ThangaMeengal(Tamil).

The award for the Best Male playback singer has been conferred on Rupankar for the song ‘E Tumi Kemon Tumi’ from the film Jaatishwar (Bengali). The award for the Best Female Playback singer has been conferred on Bela Shende for the song ‘Khura Khura’ from the film ‘Tuhya Dharma Koncha (Marathi)’. The award for the best Screen play writer (original) has been conferred on P Sheshadrifor the film December I (Kannada). The award for best Screen play writer (adapted) has been conferred on Pancha kshari for the film Prakruti (Kannada). The award for the best Dialogue has been conferred on Sumitra Bhave for the film Astu (Marathi). The award for the best lyrics has been conferred on Muthu kumar for the lyric Ananda Yaazhai from the film Thanga Meengal(Tamil). A special jury award has been conferred on Viva In En and Mahesh Limaye for the film Yellow (Marathi) and Future East Film Pvt Ltd and Ashim Ahluwalia for the film Miss Lovely (Hindi). The award for the best choreography has been conferred on Ganesh Acharya for MastonkaJhund in the film Bhaag Milkha Bhaag (Hindi).

In the Non-Feature Film category, Pranjal Duahas got the Best Director award for the film ChidiyaUdh (No Dialogue). The Award for the Best Debut Film of a Director has been conferred to Christo Tomyand Satyajit Ray Film and Television Institute for the film Kanyaka(Malayalam). Girish Kasaravalli for Ananthamurthy – Not A Biography…But A Hypothesis (English) and Satyanshu Singh and Devanshu Singh for Tamaash (Kashmiri) have been selected for Special Jury Award. Foresting Life (Hindi, Assamese) has been awarded as the Best film in the Environmental category and Best Promotional film award was conferred on Chasing The Rainbow(English) and Kush (Hindi).