71st National Film Awards, Shah Rukh Khan To Receive Half Prize Money As Best Actor, Here's Why

The winners for the 71st National Film Awards, honouring the best of Indian cinema for the year 2023, were announced in August 2025. The award ceremony took place on September 23, 2025, at Vigyan Bhawan in New Delhi, where President Droupadi Murmu conferred the honours on the title holders. The award provides recognition to cinematic excellence from across India. Achievements in various categories, including feature films, non-feature films, scriptwriting, VFX work and more, are honoured through the National Awards.

Among the categories, people are mostly interested in knowing which celebrities took home the Best Actor and Actress titles. In the 71st edition of the award show, Shah Rukh Khan was bestowed with the prestigious Best Actor award for his performance in Jawan, where he played dual roles of a father and son. However, the actor will not receive the full Rs. 2 lakh prize money stipulated for his the Best Actor National Award winner. Here's the reason why.

Shah Rukh Khan to receive half the prize money for his National Award win

Shah Rukh Khan, often called the 'Badshah' of Bollywood, once again proved that he is worthy of the title. Beating the new generation of actors, he won the National Award in the Best Actor category for his 2023 release, Jawan. He impressed fans with his performance, and the film received immense success during its theatrical as well as OTT run. However, that has nothing to do with SRK receiving just half the prize money, i.e, Rs. 1 lakh, for his achievement.

The reason for the same is that he shared the honour with Vikrant Massey. 38-year-old Vikrant was recognised for his role in Vidhu Vinod Chopra's 12th Fail. The inspirational movie struck a chord in the audience's hearts, while Jawan gave them an adrenaline rush with its thrilling action and drama. Both films were well received by the audience, and their leads were jointly honoured with the Best Actor accolade by the Honourable President of India, Droupadi Murmu. The duo also received a medal and a certificate for their award win.

Other 71st National Award winners who will receive half the prize money

Shah Rukh Khan and Vikrant Massey are not the only ones who had to split the National Award prize money 50-50. A few other Indian celebrities have also shared similar experiences, as joint winners in some categories. The award for Best Actor in a Supporting Role was shared between Vijayaraghavan for the Malayalam film, Pookkaalam and Muthupettai Somu Bhaskar for the Tamil film, Parking. Best Actress in a Supporting Role was shared by Urvashi for the Malayalam film, Ullozhukku and Janki Bodiwala for the Gujarati film, Vash.

Best Screenplay was awarded to Sai Rajesh Neelam for the Telugu film, Baby and Ramkumar Balakrishnan for the Tamil film, Parking. Besides these categories, Best Costume Designer and Best Biographical / Historical Reconstruction / Compilation Film (Non-Feature Film) were also shared by two winners each. The Best Child Artist award had multiple winners- Sukriti Veni Bandreddi for Gandhi Tatha Chettu, Kabir Khandare for Gypsy and Treesha Thosar, Shrinivas Pokale, Bhargav Jagtap for Naal 2. All of them will have to share the prize money equally, as per the rule of the award function.

What are your thoughts on Shah Rukh Khan sharing the Best Actor title with Vikrant Massey? Let us know.

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