The National Award for Best Feature Film is one of the categories in the National Film Awards 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 jury ...

, the organisation set up by Ministry of Information and Broadcasting in India. It is one of several awards presented for feature films and awarded with the ''Golden Lotus'' (''Swarna Kamal''). The award is announced for films produced in a year across the country, in all Indian languages. , the award comprises a ''Swarna Kamal'', a certificate, and a cash prize of 2,50,000 and is presented to the producer and the

director Director may refer to: Literature * ''Director'' (magazine), a British magazine * ''The Director'' (novel), a 1971 novel by Henry Denker * ''The Director'' (play), a 2000 play by Nancy Hasty Music * Director (band), an Irish rock band * ''D ...

of the film. The National Film Awards were established in 1954 to "encourage production of the films of a high aesthetic and technical standard and educational and culture value" and also planned to include awards for regional films. The awards were instituted as "State Awards for Films" but were renamed to "National Film Awards" at the

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 ...

in 1967. , the award is one of six ''Swarna Kamal'' awards presented for the feature films. The award winning film is included at the annual International Film Festival of India. Only the films made in any Indian language and silent films which are either shot on 35 mm, in a wider gauge, or digital format but released on a film or Video/Digital format and certified by the

Central Board of Film Certification The Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC) is a statutory film-certification body in the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting of the Government of India. It is tasked with "regulating the public exhibition of films under the provision ...

as a feature film or featurette are made eligible for the award. The inaugural award was named as "President's Gold Medal for the All India Best Feature Film" and was awarded to

Marathi film Marathi cinema is an Indian film industry of Marathi-language motion pictures. It is based in Mumbai, Maharashtra. Based in old Mumbai, it is the oldest film industry of Indian cinema. The first Marathi film to be released in India was '' S ...

, '' Shyamchi Aai'' (''Shyam's Mother''), produced and directed by

Pralhad Keshav Atre Prahlad Keshav Atre () (13 August 1898 – 13 June 1969), popularly known as Āchārya Atre, was a prominent Marathi writer, poet, educationist, founder–editor of ''Maratha'' (a Marathi language newspaper), and above all, a noted orator. Bio ...

and is based on

Pandurang Sadashiv Sane Pandurang Sadashiv Sane ( mar, पांडुरंग सदाशिव साने; ; 24 December 1899 – 11 June 1950), also known as ''Sane Guruji'' (Guruji meaning "respected teacher") by his students and followers, was a Marathi auth ...

's Marathi novel of the same name. , sixty seven feature films have been awarded which are made in twelve different languages:

Bengali Bengali or Bengalee, or Bengalese may refer to: *something of, from, or related to Bengal, a large region in South Asia * Bengalis, an ethnic and linguistic group of the region * Bengali language, the language they speak ** Bengali alphabet, the w ...

(twenty-two),

Hindi Hindi ( Devanāgarī: or , ), or more precisely Modern Standard Hindi (Devanagari: ), is an Indo-Aryan language spoken chiefly in the Hindi Belt region encompassing parts of northern, central, eastern, and western India. Hindi has been ...

(fourteen),

Malayalam Malayalam (; , ) is a Dravidian languages, Dravidian language spoken in the Indian state of Kerala and the union territories of Lakshadweep and Puducherry (union territory), Puducherry (Mahé district) by the Malayali people. It is one of 2 ...

(twelve),

Kannada Kannada (; ಕನ್ನಡ, ), originally romanised Canarese, is a Dravidian language spoken predominantly by the people of Karnataka in southwestern India, with minorities in all neighbouring states. It has around 47 million native s ...

(six), Marathi (five),

Tamil Tamil may refer to: * Tamils, an ethnic group native to India and some other parts of Asia **Sri Lankan Tamils, Tamil people native to Sri Lanka also called ilankai tamils **Tamil Malaysians, Tamil people native to Malaysia * Tamil language, nativ ...

(three), Assamese, English,

Gujarati Gujarati may refer to: * something of, from, or related to Gujarat, a state of India * Gujarati people, the major ethnic group of Gujarat * Gujarati language, the Indo-Aryan language spoken by them * Gujarati languages, the Western Indo-Aryan sub ...

and

Sanskrit Sanskrit (; attributively , ; nominally , , ) is a classical language belonging to the Indo-Aryan branch of the Indo-European languages. It arose in South Asia after its predecessor languages had diffused there from the northwest in the late ...

(two each),

Beary The Beary (also known as Byari) is a community concentrated along the southwest coast of India, mostly in the Mangalore district of the south Indian state of Karnataka. They are an ethnic group of Indian Muslims with their own distinct cu ...

and Telugu (one each). At the

26th National Film Awards The 26th 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 1978. Ceremony took place in Apr ...

(1978), no feature film was awarded with the Best Feature film award as the jury headed by filmmaker Chetan Anand scrutinised eighty films but did not consider any film to be "worthy of merit" and "measured up to the standard of excellence set forth by the jury". At the 59th National Film Awards, two feature films shared the award; Marathi film ''

Deool ''Deool'' () is a 2011 Indian Marathi dark comedy directed by Umesh Vinayak Kulkarni and produced by Abhijeet Gholap. The film stars Girish Kulkarni, Nana Patekar, Dilip Prabhawalkar, Sharvani Pillai, Sonali Kulkarni in lead roles. The film ...

'' (''Temple'') and Beary film '' Byari''. Most recently, the award is presented to Tamil film ''

Soorarai Pottru ''Soorarai Pottru'' () is a 2020 Indian Tamil-language drama film that was written and directed by Sudha Kongara, and produced by Suriya, Jyothika and Guneet Monga. Kongara and Shalini Usha Nair wrote the screenplay; Aalif Surti and Ganeshaa p ...

'', directed by

Sudha Kongara Sudha Kongara Prasad is an Indian film director and screenwriter who predominantly works in Tamil cinema. She made her directorial debut with the Telugu film ''Andhra Andagadu'' in 2008, and later directed the Tamil film '' ''Drohi'. In 2016, ...

. Satyajit Ray is the most honoured director where six of his films''

Pather Panchali ''Pather Panchali'' (; ) is a 1955 Indian Bengali-language drama film written and directed by Satyajit Ray and produced by the Government of West Bengal. It is an adaptation of Bibhutibhushan Bandyopadhyay's 1929 Bengali novel of the same na ...

'' (1955), '' Apur Sansar'' (1959), ''

Charulata ''Charulata'' (Spelt as ''Cārulatā''; ) is a 1964 Indian drama film written and directed by Satyajit Ray. Based upon the novel ''Nastanirh'' by Rabindranath Tagore, it stars Soumitra Chatterjee, Madhabi Mukherjee and Sailen Mukherjee. The f ...

'' (1964), ''

Goopy Gyne Bagha Byne ''Goopy Gyne Bagha Byne'' (Bengali: গুপী গাইন বাঘা বাইন ''Gupi Gain Bagha Bain'') is a 1969 Indian fantasy adventure comedy film written and directed by Satyajit Ray and based on a story by his grandfather Upend ...

'' (1968), ''

Seemabaddha ''Seemabaddha'' ( bn, সীমাবদ্ধ ''Shimabôddho''; English title: ''Company Limited'') is a 1971 social drama Bengali film directed by Satyajit Ray. It is based on the novel ''Seemabaddha'' by Mani Shankar Mukherjee. It stars Bar ...

'' (1971), and ''

Agantuk ''Agantuk'' () is a 1991 Bengali-language drama film written and directed by Satyajit Ray. Notable for being Ray's last film, it was based on one of his own short stories, ''Atithi''. A joint Indo-French production, it received financial backin ...

'' (1991)won the award, followed

Buddhadeb Dasgupta Buddhadeb Dasgupta (11 February 1944 – 10 June 2021) was an Indian filmmaker and poet best known for his Bengali-language films like ''Bagh Bahadur'', '' Tahader Katha'', ''Charachar'' and ''Uttara''. Five of his films have won the National ...

(five),

Girish Kasaravalli Girish Kasaravalli (born 3 December 1950) is an Indian film director, in the Kannada cinema, and one of the pioneers of the Parallel Cinema. Known internationally for his works, Kasaravalli has garnered fourteen National Film Awards, including f ...

and

Mrinal Sen Mrinal Sen (''Beng.'' মৃণাল সেন; 14 May 1923 – 30 December 2018) was an Indian film director, and screenwriter known for his work primarily in Bengali, and few Hindi and Telugu language films. Regarded as one of the finest Ind ...

(four each),

Shaji N. Karun Shaji Neelakantan Karun (born 1 January 1952) is an Indian film director and cinematographer. His debut film '' Piravi'' (1988) won the Caméra d'Or – Mention d'honneur at the 1989 Cannes Film Festival. He was the premiere chairman of the Keral ...

(three), and

Adoor Gopalakrishnan Adoor Gopalakrishnan (born 3 July 1941) is an Indian film director, script writer, and producer and is regarded as one of the most notable and renowned filmmakers in India. With the release of his first feature film '' Swayamvaram'' (1972), Go ...

Tapan Sinha Tapan Sinha (2 October 1924 – 15 January 2009) was one of the most prominent Indian film directors of his time forming a legendary quartet with Satyajit Ray, Ritwik Ghatak and Mrinal Sen. He was primarily a Bengali filmmaker who worked both ...

, G. V. Iyer and

Priyadarshan Priyadarshan (born 30 January 1957) is an Indian film director, screenwriter and producer who works predominantly in Malayalam and Hindi films, while also having done six films in Tamil and two films in Telugu. He has done about 31 films in ...

(two each). As of 2022, the award was presented to the films of Eleven debutant directors; Satyajit Ray (''

'', 1955),

('' Swayamvaram'', 1972), M. T. Vasudevan Nair (''

Nirmalyam ''Nirmalyam'' ( ml, നിര്‍മ്മാല്യം, ) is a 1973 Indian Malayalam-language film written and directed by M. T. Vasudevan Nair, and starring P. J. Antony, Sumithra and Ravi Menon. P. J. Antony won the National Film Award ...

'', 1973),

(''

Ghatashraddha ''Ghatashraaddha'' () is a 1977 Indian Kannada language film directed by Girish Kasaravalli starring Meena Kuttappa, Narayana Bhat and Ajith Kumar in lead roles. It is based on a novella by eminent Kannada writer U. R. Ananthamurthy. The film wa ...

'', 1977), charan ('' Piravi'', 1988),

Sandeep Sawant Sandeep Sawant is an Indian theatre, film and television personality. He is the director and script writer of the national award winning Marathi movie Shwaas. Sawant was one of the producers of Shwaas, his debut film. Author Sandeep Unnithan cred ...

(''

Shwaas ''Shwas'' (Marathi: श्वास, ''The Breath'') is a Marathi film, released in 2004. It was India's official entry to the 2004 Oscars and was ranked 6th in the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film category. Its storyline is based o ...

'', 2003),

Salim Ahamed Salem Ahamed is an Indian film director, screen writer and producer. After working for a long time as a travel consultant, he joined as a creative director and script writer in a television channel. His directorial debut, '' Adaminte Makan Abu ...

('' Adaminte Makan Abu'', 2010), Suveeran ('' Byari'', 2011),

Anand Gandhi Anand Gandhi (born Anand Modi, 26 September 1980) is an Indian filmmaker, entrepreneur, media producer, innovator and systems researcher. He is also the founder/CEO of the Mumbai-based new media studio and systems think tank Memesys Culture Lab ...

(''

Ship of Theseus The Ship of Theseus is a thought experiment about whether an object that has had all of its original components replaced remains the same object. According to legend, Theseus, the mythical Greek founder-king of Athens, had rescued the children ...

'', 2013),

Chaitanya Tamhane Chaitanya Tamhane (born 1 March 1987) is an Indian filmmaker, known for the 2014 Marathi courtroom drama ''Court''. It was announced as India's official submission for the 88th Academy Awards in the Best Foreign Language Film category. The fi ...

(''

Court A court is any person or institution, often as a government institution, with the authority to adjudicate legal disputes between parties and carry out the administration of justice in civil, criminal, and administrative matters in acco ...

'', 2015), Abhishek Shah (

Hellaro ''Hellaro'' () is a 2019 Indian Gujarati period drama film co-written and directed by Abhishek Shah and produced by Ashish Patel, Nirav Patel, Aayush Patel, Prateek Gupta, Mit Jani and Abhishek Shah under the banner of Saarthi Productions and Ha ...

2018). Five films awarded with the Best Feature film award were also the Indian submission for the

Academy Award The Academy Awards, better known as the Oscars, are awards for artistic and technical merit for the American and international film industry. The awards are regarded by many as the most prestigious, significant awards in the entertainment ind ...

for the

Best Foreign Language Film This is a list of categories of awards commonly awarded through organizations that bestow film awards, including those presented by various film, festivals, and people's awards. Best Actor/Best Actress *See Best Actor#Film awards, Best Actress#F ...

; '' Apur Sansar'' (1959), ''

'' (2004), '' Adaminte Makan Abu'' (2011), ''

'' (2015) and '' Village Rockstars'' (2018) . ''

Adi Shankaracharya Adi Shankara ("first Shankara," to distinguish him from other Shankaras)(8th cent. CE), also called Adi Shankaracharya ( sa, आदि शङ्कर, आदि शङ्कराचार्य, Ādi Śaṅkarācāryaḥ, lit=First Shanka ...

'' (1983), the first film made in

language, and '' Byari'' (2011), the first film made in Beary language, won the award at the

31st National Film Awards The 31st 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 1983. Ceremony took place in Jun ...

and 59th National Film Awards, respectively.

Awards

Since its inception in 1953, the producer of the film is awarded with the gold medal and a certificate. A cash prize of 20,000 was introduced at the

5th National Film Awards The 5th National Film Awards, formerly the State Awards for Films, were a set of awards presented by the Indian Ministry of Information and Broadcasting to recognize the best Indian films of 1957. The ceremony took place at Vigyan Bhavan, New ...

(1957) and was revised to 40,000 at the 18th National Film Awards (1970), to 50,000 at the

28th National Film Awards The 28th 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 1980. Ceremony took place in ...

(1980), to 2,50,000 at the

54th National Film Awards The 54th 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 2006. Three different committe ...

(2006). From 1953 till 1956, the director of the film was awarded with the Gold medal which was later changed in 1957 to a cash prize of 5,000. From 1967 till 1973, a plaque was also awarded to the director and cash prize was revised to 10,000 in 1970. At the

22nd National Film Awards The 22nd National Film Awards, presented by Directorate of Film Festivals, the organisation set up by Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, India to celebrate the best of Indian Cinema released in 1974. On the occasion of 25th Annivers ...

(1974), the award for the director was changed to ''Rajat Kamal'' (''Silver Lotus'') and a cash prize of 15,000 which was later revised to 20,000 at the

25th National Film Awards The 25th 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 1977. Ceremony took place on 27 ...

(1977). Since

(1980), the director is awarded with the ''Swarna Kamal'' and a cash prize of 25,000 which was later revised to 50,000 at the 28th National Film Awards (1980), to 2,50,000 at the 54th National Film Awards (2006). In 1973 and 1974, the lead actor and actress of the film were also awarded. P. J. Antony and Sumithra received a souvenir for Malayalam film ''

'' at the 21st National Film Awards (1973). Antony was also awarded the Best Actor, then known as the "Bharat Award for the Best Actor".

Utpal Dutt Utpal Dutta () (29 March 1929 – 19 August 1993) was an Indian actor, director, and writer-playwright. He was primarily an actor in Bengali theatre, where he became a pioneering figure in Modern Indian theatre, when he founded the "Little Th ...

and Gita Sen were awarded with a medallion for Bengali Film '' Chorus'' at

(1974).

Winners

Films in the following languages have won the Best Feature Film award:

Explanatory notes

References

External links

* of Directorate of Film Festivals, India {{DEFAULTSORT:National Film Award For Best Film Film Awards for best film