The 20th National Film Awards, presented by Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, India to felicitate the best of Indian Cinema released in the year 1972.

[1] With this year, new award category is introduced for the feature films made in Meitei language.

This newly introduced category includes President's Silver Medal for Best Feature Film in Manipuri.

[1] Six different committees were formed based on the film making sectors in India, mainly based in Bombay, Calcutta and Madras along with the central committee for all India level.

For 20th National Film Awards, central committee was headed by Romesh Thapar.