The National Film Award for Best Actor in a Leading Role is an honour presented annually at the National Film Awards of India instituted since 1967 to actors who have delivered the best performance in a leading role within the Indian film industry. Called the "State Awards for Films" when established in 1954, the National Film Awards ceremony is older than the Directorate of Film Festivals. The State Awards instituted the individual award in 1968 as the "Bharat Award for the Best Actor"; in 1975, it was renamed as the "Rajat Kamal Award for the Best Actor". As of 2024, accounting for ties and repeat winners, the Government of India has presented a total of 64 "Best Actor" awards to 49 actors. Until 1974, winners of the National Film Award received a figurine and certificate; since 1975, they have been awarded with a "Rajat Kamal" (silver lotus), certificate and a cash prize. Since the 70th National Film Awards, the name was changed to "National Film Award for Best Actor in a Leading Role".
Although the Indian film industry produces films in around 20 languages and dialects, the actors whose performances have won awards have worked in eight major languages: Hindi (twenty-eight awards), Malayalam (fourteen awards), Tamil (nine awards), Bengali (five awards), Kannada (four awards), Marathi (three awards), English (two awards), and Telugu (one award).
The first recipient was Uttam Kumar from Bengali cinema, who was honoured at the 15th National Film Awards in 1967 for his performances in Anthony Firingee and Chiriyakhana. He was also the first actor who won this award for two different films in the same year. As of 2024 edition, Mammootty and Amitabh Bachchan are the most honoured actors with four awards. Kamal Haasan, and Ajay Devgn with three awards, while six actors—Mohanlal, Mithun Chakraborty, Sanjeev Kumar, Om Puri, Naseeruddin Shah and Dhanush—have won the award two times. Two actors have achieved the honour for performing in two languagesMithun Chakraborty (Hindi and Bengali) and Mammootty (Malayalam and English). The most recent recipients were Mammootty and Kartik Aaryan who were honoured at the 72nd National Film Awards for their performances in Bramayugam and Chandu Champion respectively.
Key Symbol MeaningYearIndicates the year in which the film was censored by the Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC)Indicates a joint award for that yearIndicates that the winner won the award for two performances in that year
Superlatives Win Recipients 4Mammootty, Amitabh Bachchan 3Kamal Haasan, Ajay Devgn 2 Om Puri, Naseeruddin Shah, Mithun Chakraborty, Sanjeev Kumar, Mohanlal, Dhanush
Recipients
+List of award recipients, showing the year, role(s), film(s) and language(s)YearRecipient(s)Role(s)Work(s)Language(s)" 1967 Uttam Kumar Anthony Firingee Antony Firingee Bengali Byomkesh Bakshi Chiriyakhana 1968 Ashok Kumar Shivnath "Joggi Thakur" Choudhary Aashirwad Hindi 1969 Utpal Dutt Bhuvan Shome Bhuvan Shome Hindi 1970 Sanjeev Kumar Hamid Ahmed Dastak Hindi 1971 M. G. Ramachandran Selvam Rickshawkaran Tamil 1972 Sanjeev Kumar Hari Charan Mathur Koshish Hindi 1973 P. J. Antony Velichapad Nirmalyam Malayalam 1974 Sadhu Meher Kishtayya Ankur Hindi 1975 M. V. Vasudeva Rao Choma Chomana Dudi Kannada 1976 Mithun Chakraborty Ghinua Mrigayaa Hindi 1977 Bharath Gopi Shankaran Kutty Kodiyettam Malayalam 1978 Arun Mukherjee Parasuram Parasuram Bengali 1979 Naseeruddin Shah Anirudh Parmar Sparsh Hindi 1980 Balan K. Nair Govindan Oppol Malayalam 1981 Om Puri Hari Mondal Arohan Hindi 1982 Kamal Haasan R. Srinivas Moondram Pirai Tamil 1983 Om Puri Anant Velankar Ardh Satya Hindi 1984 Naseeruddin Shah Naurangia Paar Hindi 1985 Shashi Kapoor Vikas Pande New Delhi Times Hindi 1986 Charuhasan Tabara Shetty Tabarana Kathe Kannada 1987 Kamal Haasan Sakthivelu Nayakar Nayakan Tamil 1988 Premji Raghava Chakyar Piravi Malayalam1989 Mammootty Vaikom Muhammad Basheer Mathilukal Malayalam Chandu Chekavar Oru Vadakkan Veeragatha 1990 Amitabh Bachchan Vijay Deenanath Chauhan Agneepath Hindi 1991 Mohanlal Kalliyur Gopinathan Bharatham Malayalam 1992 Mithun Chakraborty Shibnath Tahader Katha Bengali1993 Mammootty Ponthan Mada Ponthan Mada Malayalam Bhaskara Patelar Vidheyan 1994 Nana Patekar Pratap Narayan Tilak Krantiveer Hindi 1995 Rajit Kapur Mahatma Gandhi The Making of the Mahatma English 1996 Kamal Haasan Senapathy , Chandrabose Indian Tamil 1997 Balachandra Menon Ismail Samaantharangal Malayalam Suresh Gopi Kannan Perumalayan Kaliyattam Malayalam 1998 Ajay Devgn Ajay R. Desai Zakhm Hindi Mammootty B. R. Ambedkar Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar English 1999 Mohanlal Kunjikuttan Vanaprastham Malayalam 2000 Anil Kapoor Major Jaidev Rajvansh Pukar Hindi 2001 Murali Appa Mestry Neythukaran Malayalam 2002 Ajay Devgn Bhagat Singh The Legend of Bhagat Singh Hindi 2003 Vikram Chithan Pithamagan Tamil 2004 Saif Ali Khan Karan Kapoor Hum Tum Hindi 2005 Amitabh Bachchan Debraj Sahai Black Hindi 2006 Soumitra Chatterjee Shashanka Palit Podokkhep Bengali 2007 Prakash Raj Vengadam Kanchivaram Tamil 2008 Upendra Limaye Tayappa Jogwa Marathi 2009 Amitabh Bachchan Auro Paa Hindi 2010 Dhanush K. P. Karuppu Aadukalam TamilSalim Kumar Abu Adaminte Makan Abu Malayalam 2011 Girish Kulkarni Keshya Deool Marathi 2012 Irrfan Khan Paan Singh Tomar Paan Singh Tomar Hindi Vikram Gokhale Ratnakar Anumati Marathi 2013 Rajkummar Rao Shahid Azmi Shahid Hindi Suraj Venjaramoodu Father Perariyathavar Malayalam 2014 Sanchari Vijay Madesha Naanu Avanalla...Avalu Kannada 2015 Amitabh Bachchan Bhashkor Banerjee Piku Hindi 2016 Akshay Kumar Commander Rustom Pavri Rustom Hindi 2017 Riddhi Sen Parimal Nagarkirtan Bengali 2018 Ayushmann Khurrana Akash Andhadhun HindiVicky Kaushal Major Vihaan Singh Shergill Uri: The Surgical Strike Hindi 2019 Manoj Bajpayee Ganpath Bhonsle Bhonsle HindiDhanush Sivasaami Asuran Tamil 2020 Suriya Nedumaaran Rajangam Soorarai Pottru Tamil Ajay Devgn Tanaji MalusareTanhaji: The Unsung WarriorHindi2021 Allu Arjun Pushpa Raj Pushpa: The Rise Telugu2022 Rishab Shetty Shiva Kantara Kannada2023 Vikrant Massey Manoj Kumar Sharma 12th Fail HindiShah Rukh Khan Azad Rathore, Captain Vikram Rathore Jawan Hindi2024 Kartik Aaryan Murlikant Petkar Chandu Champion HindiMammootty Kodumon Potti / Chaathan Bramayugam Malayalam
Footnotes
References
External links Official Page for Directorate of Film Festivals, India National Film Awards Archives