The National Film Award for Best Direction is an honour presented annually at India's National Film Awards ceremony by the National Film Development Corporation of India (NFDC), an organisation set up by the Indian Ministry of Information and Broadcasting. Since 1967, the award is given by a national panel appointed annually by the NFDC to a director for their work within Indian cinema. It is presented by the president of India at a ceremony held in New Delhi.
The winner is given a "Swarna Kamal" (Golden Lotus) certificate and a cash prize of . Including ties and repeat winners, the NFDC has presented a total of 57 Best Direction awards to 38 different directors. Although Indian cinema produces films in more than twenty languages, the performances of films that have won awards are of nine languages: Bengali (16 awards), Malayalam (14 awards), Hindi (11 awards), Tamil (5 awards), English, Kannada and Marathi (3 awards each), Assamese and Punjabi (1 award each).
The first recipient was Satyajit Ray, who was honoured at the 15th National Film Awards for directing the Bengali film Chiriyakhana (1967). Ray is also the most frequent recipient, with six wins. Adoor Gopalakrishnan has won 5 awards, which includes his debut Malayalam film Swayamvaram (1972). Mrinal Sen has been awarded four times. He is also the only recipient to win the award for directing films in two different languages: Bengali and Hindi. At the 19th National Film Awards, Girish Karnad and B.V. Karanth shared the award for co-directing the Kannada film Vamsha Vriksha (1972).
Winners
+List of award recipients, showing the year, film and languageYearRecipientFilmLanguage 1967 Chiriyakhana Bengali 1968 Goopy Gyne Bagha Byne Bengali 1969 Bhuvan Shome Hindi 1970 Pratidwandi Bengali 1971 Vamsha Vriksha Kannada 1972 Swayamvaram Malayalam 1973 Duvidha Hindi 1974 Sonar Kella Bengali 1975 Jana Aranya Bengali 1976 Pallavi Kannada 1977 Kanchana Sita Malayalam 1978 Thampu Malayalam 1979 Ek Din Pratidin Bengali 1980 Akaler Shandhaney Bengali 1981 36 Chowringhee Lane English 1982 Chokh Bengali 1983 Khandhar Hindi 1984 Mukhamukham Malayalam 1985 Trikal Hindi 1986 Oridathu Malayalam 1987 Anantaram Malayalam 1988 Piravi Malayalam 1989 Mathilukal Malayalam 1990 Ek Doctor Ki Maut Hindi 1991 Agantuk Bengali 1992 Padma Nadir Majhi Bengali 1993 Ponthan Mada Malayalam 1994 Xagoroloi Bohudoor Assamese 1995 Naseem Hindi 1996 Kadhal Kottai Tamil 1997 Kaliyattam Malayalam 1998 Janani Malayalam 1999 Uttara Bengali 2000 Utsab Bengali 2001 Ooruku Nooruper Tamil 2002 Mr. and Mrs. Iyer English 2003 Abar Aranye Bengali 2004 Swapner Din Bengali 2005 Parzania English 2006 Traffic Signal Hindi 2007 Naalu Pennungal Malayalam 2008 Naan Kadavul Tamil 2009 Abohomaan Bengali 2010 Aadukalam Tamil 2011 Anhe Ghore Da Daan Punjabi 2012 Dhag Marathi 2013 Shahid Hindi 2014 Chotushkone Bengali 2015 Bajirao Mastani Hindi 2016 Ventilator Marathi 2017 Bhayanakam Malayalam 2018 Uri: The Surgical Strike Hindi 2019 Bahattar Hoorain Hindi 2020 Ayyappanum KoshiyumMalayalam 2021 Nikhil MahajanGodavariMarathi 2022 Sooraj BarjatyaUunchaiHindi 2023 Sudipto SenThe Kerala StoryHindi 2024 Rajkumar PeriasamyAmaranTamil
Footnotes
References
External links Official Page for Directorate of Film Festivals, India