The National Film Award for Best Music Direction (the Silver Lotus Award) is an honour presented annually at the National Film Awards by the National Film Development Corporation of India to a musician who has composed the best score for films produced within the Indian film industry. The award was first introduced at the 15th National Film Awards in 1967. At the 42nd National Film Awards, an award for "Best Background Score" was instituted. It was however discontinued after that, and it was not until 2009 that the category was re-introduced. Later, during the 70th National Film Awards both the categories — Best Background Score and Best Background Music were clubbed together and named as "Best Background Music". A total of 51 awards—including award for Best Background music—to 40 different composers. The first recipient of the award was K. V. Mahadevan who was honoured for his composition in the Tamil film Kandan Karunai (1967). A. R. Rahman is the most frequent winner having won 7 awards.
A. R. Rahman is also the only composer to have received a national award in his debut movie itself. Ilaiyaraaja has won it 5 times. Jaidev and Vishal Bhardwaj have won it three times each. Four musicians—B. V. Karanth, K.V. Mahadevan, Satyajit Ray, Johnson and M. M. Keeravani have won the award twice each. Ilaiyaraaja is the only composer to have won the award for achieving in three different languages — Telugu, Tamil and Malayalam. While A. R. Rahman won the award for performing in two different languages — Tamil and Hindi (including one for his debut film) Roja (1992).
Johnson won the inaugural "Best Background Score" award—for Sukrutham—in 1994. When the award was reinstated in 2009, Ilaiyaraaja won it for the Malayalam film Pazhassi Raja.
Although the Indian film industry produces films in around 20 languages and dialects, the recipients of the award include those who have worked in seven major languages: Hindi (19 awards), Tamil (12 awards), Telugu (10 awards), Malayalam (9 awards), Bengali (7 awards), Kannada (5 awards) and Marathi (2 awards).
Winners Indicates winner for Best Background music
List of award recipients, showing the year (award ceremony), film(s) and language(s) Year Recipient(s) Film(s) Language 1967 K. V. Mahadevan Kandan Karunai Tamil 1968 Kalyanji Anandji Saraswatichandra Hindi 1969 S. Mohinder Nanak Nam Jahaz Hai Punjabi 1970 Madan Mohan Dastak Hindi 1971 Jaidev Reshma Aur Shera Hindi 1972 Sachin Dev Burman Zindagi Zindagi Hindi 1973 Satyajit Ray Ashani Sanket Bengali 1974 Ananda Shankar Chorus Bengali 1975 Bhupen Hazarika Chameli Memsaab Assamese 1976 B. V. Karanth Rishya Shringa Kannada 1977 B. V. Karanth Ghatashraddha Kannada 1978 Jaidev Gaman Hindi 1979 K. V. Mahadevan Sankarabharanam Telugu 1980 Satyajit Ray Hirak Rajar Deshe Bengali 1981 Khayyam Umrao Jaan Hindi 1982 Ramesh Naidu Meghasandesam Telugu 1983 Ilaiyaraaja Saagara Sangamam Telugu 1984 Jaidev Ankahee Hindi 1985 Ilaiyaraaja Sindhu Bhairavi Tamil 1986 M. Balamuralikrishna Madhvacharya Kannada 1987 Vanraj Bhatia Tamas Hindi 1988 Ilaiyaraaja Rudra Veena Telugu 1989 Sher Choudhury Wosobipo Karbi 1990 Hridaynath Mangeshkar Lekin... Hindi 1991 Rajat Dholakia Dharavi Hindi 1992 A. R. Rahman Roja Tamil 1993 Johnson Ponthan Mada Malayalam 1994 Ravi Sukrutham Parinayam Malayalam JohnsonSukrutham Malayalam 1995 Hamsalekha Sangeetha Sagara Ganayogi Panchakshara Gavai Kannada 1996 A. R. Rahman Minsara Kanavu Tamil 1997 M. M. Keeravani Annamayya Telugu 1998 Vishal Bhardwaj Godmother Hindi 1999 Ismail Darbar Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam Hindi 2000 Anu Malik Refugee Hindi 2001 A. R. Rahman Lagaan Hindi 2002 A. R. Rahman Kannathil Muthamittal Tamil 2003 Shankar–Ehsaan–Loy Kal Ho Naa Ho Hindi 2004 Vidyasagar Swarabhishekam Telugu 2005 Lalgudi Jayaraman Sringaram Tamil 2006 Ashok Patki Antarnad Konkani 2007 Ouseppachan Ore Kadal Malayalam 2008 Ajay–Atul Jogwa Marathi 2009 Amit Trivedi Dev.D Hindi Ilaiyaraaja Pazhassi Raja Malayalam 2010 Vishal Bhardwaj Ishqiya Hindi Isaac Thomas Kottukapally Adaminte Makan Abu Malayalam 2011 Neel Dutt Ranjana Ami Ar Ashbona Bengali Mayookh Bhaumik Laptop Bengali 2012 Shailendra Barve Samhita Marathi Bijibal Kaliyachan Malayalam 2013 Kabir Suman Jaatishwar Bengali Shantanu Moitra Naa Bangaaru Talli Telugu 2014 Vishal Bhardwaj Haider Hindi Gopi Sundar 1983 Malayalam 2015 M. Jayachandran Ennu Ninte Moideen Malayalam Ilaiyaraaja Tharai Thappattai Tamil2016 Bapu Padmanabha Allama Kannada 2017 A. R. Rahman Kaatru Veliyidai TamilMom Hindi 2018 Sanjay Leela Bhansali Padmaavat Hindi Shashwat Sachdev Uri: The Surgical Strike Hindi 2019 D. Imman Viswasam Tamil Prabuddha Banerjee Jyeshthoputro Bengali 2020 Thaman S Ala Vaikunthapurramuloo Telugu G. V. Prakash Kumar Soorarai Pottru Tamil 2021 Devi Sri Prasad Pushpa: The Rise Telugu M. M. Keeravani RRR Telugu2022 Pritam Brahmāstra: Part One – Shiva HindiA. R. Rahman Ponniyin Selvan: I Tamil 2023 G. V. Prakash Kumar Vaathi Tamil Harshavardhan Rameshwar Animal Hindi 2024 Shashwat Sachdev Article 370 HindiG. V. Prakash Kumar Amaran Tamil
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References
External links Official Page for Directorate of Film Festivals, India National Film Awards Archives