The National Film Award for Best Cinematography is one of the

National Film Awards The National Film Awards is the most prominent film award ceremony in India. Established in 1954, it has been administered, along with the International Film Festival of India and the Indian Panorama, by the Indian government's Directorat ...

presented annually by the

Directorate of Film Festivals The Directorate of Film Festivals in India was an organisation that initiated and presented the International Film Festival of India, the National Film Awards and the Indian Panorama. Although the Directorate helped appoint members of the jur ...

, the organisation set up by Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, India. It is one of several awards presented for feature films and awarded with Rajat Kamal (Silver Lotus). The award was instituted in 1967, at

15th National Film Awards The 15th National Film Awards, presented by Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, India to felicitate the best of Indian Cinema released in 1967. Ceremony took place at Vigyan Bhavan, New Delhi on 25 November 1968 and awards were given by ...

and awarded annually for films produced in the year across the country, in all Indian languages. Till

34th National Film Awards The 34th National Film Awards, presented by Directorate of Film Festivals, the organisation set up by Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, India to felicitate the best of Indian Cinema released in the year 1986. Ceremony took place in Sep ...

, awards were given for

Black-and-white Black-and-white (B&W or B/W) images combine black and white in a continuous spectrum, producing a range of shades of grey. Media The history of various visual media began with black and white, and as technology improved, altered to color. ...

as well as

Color motion picture film Color motion picture film refers both to unexposed color photographic film in a format suitable for use in a motion picture camera, and to finished motion picture film, ready for use in a projector, which bears images in color. The first color ...

. Since

37th National Film Awards The 37th National Film Awards, presented by Directorate of Film Festivals, the organisation set up by Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, India to felicitate the best of Indian Cinema released in the year 1989. Ceremony took place in May ...

, Laboratory Processing are also awarded under the same category.

Multiple Winners

4 wins :

K. K. Mahajan K. K. Mahajan (2 October 1944 – 13 July 2007) was an Indian cinematographer who was known for his work in Parallel Cinema. In a career that spanned over four decades, he won four National Film Awards. He was best known for his work with filmm ...

Santosh Sivan Santosh Sivan (born 8 February 1964) is an Indian cinematographer, film director, producer and actor known for his works in Malayalam, Tamil and Hindi cinema. Santosh graduated from the Film and Television Institute of India and has to date co ...

3 wins :

Soumendu Roy Soumendu Roy (born 1933) is an Indian cinematographer most known for his work with noted director Satyajit Ray's films, starting with ''Teen Kanya'' (1961), when Subrata Mitra developed an eye-problem, though he has earlier shot Ray's documenta ...

Apurba Kishore Bir Apurba Kishore Bir (born 1948), also known as A. K. Bir, is an Indian film cinematographer, screenwriter and director. An alumnus of the Film and Television Institute of India, Pune, he worked in various Ad-films and documentaries before mak ...

Venu The ''venu'' (Sanskrit: ; /मुरळि; ''muraļi'') is one of the ancient transverse flutes of Indian classical music. It is an aerophone typically made from bamboo, that is a side blown wind instrument. It continues to be in use in the ...

Madhu Ambat Madhu Ambat is an Indian cinematographer. With a career spanning over 40 years, he is one of the most prolific cinematographers in Indian cinema. He is best known for his work in films such as ''Amaram'', '' Anjali'', and ''Makaramanju''. He cu ...

Abhik Mukhopadhyay Avik Mukhopadhyay is an Indian cinematographer who works in Bengali and Hindi films. He collaborated with eminent directors like Rituparno Ghosh, Aparna Sen, Srijit Mukherji, Kamaleshwar Mukherjee, Anik Dutta, Aniruddha Roy Chowdhury, Shoojit ...

2 wins : Ramachandra,

Balu Mahendra Balanathan Benjamin Mahendran (19 May 1939 13 February 2014), commonly known as Balu Mahendra, was a Sri Lankan-born Indian cinematographer, director, screenwriter and film editor who worked predominantly in Tamil cinema. Widely regarded as ...

Ashok Mehta Ashok Mehta (1947 – 15 August 2012) was a noted national film award-winning Indian film cinematographer, known for films such as '' Bandit Queen'' (1994), '' 36 Chowringhee Lane'' (1981) and ''Utsav'' (1984). He won the National Film Award f ...

Sudeep Chatterjee Sudeep Chatterjee ( bn, সুদীপ চ্যাটার্জী) is an Indian cinemaatographer, who mainly works in Hindi films and Bengali films. He has collaborated with critically acclaimed directors like Buddhadeb Dasgupta, Nagesh ...

Recipients

Award includes 'Rajat Kamal' (Silver Lotus) and cash prize. The only female who has won this award is

Anjuli Shukla Anjuli Shukla is an Indian cinematographer and film director. She is the first and till date the only Indian woman who has won the National Film Award for Best Cinematography. ''Kutty Srank'', her debut film, won her the National Film Award fo ...

, who won the award for her debut film, ''

Kutty Srank ''Kutty Srank'' ( en, The Sailor of Hearts) is a 2010 Indian Malayalam arthouse film directed by Shaji N. Karun. Mammootty played the title role for the film. The film was produced by Reliance Entertainment under the banner of Big Motion Pict ...

'' (2010). Prasad Film Lab has been awarded eight times for the laboratory processing. Following are the award winners over the years:

References

External links

Official Page for Directorate of Film Festivals, India

National Film Awards Archives
{{National Film Awards

Cinematography Cinematography (from ancient Greek κίνημα, ''kìnema'' "movement" and γράφειν, ''gràphein'' "to write") is the art of motion picture (and more recently, electronic video camera) photography. Cinematographers use a lens to focu ...

Awards for best cinematography