National Film Award for Best Direction

National Film Award for Best Direction
Award Information
Type	National
Category	Movies
Instituted	1967
First Awarded	1967
Last Awarded	2011
Total Awarded	45
Awarded by	Directorate of Film Festivals, India
Cash Award	2,50,000/-
Medal	Golden Lotus (Swarna Kamal)
First Awardee(s)	Satyajit Ray
Last Awardee(s)	Gurvinder Singh

The National Film Award for Best Direction is one of the National Film Awards presented annually by the Directorate of Film Festivals, India, and was constituted in the year 1967. This is one of the Golden Lotus Awards (Swarna Kamal) given among National Film Awards. It is announced for films produced in a year across the country, in all Indian languages.

Winners

The award winners for Best Direction are given below. Satyajit Ray has been awarded the maximum number of times (6) in this category.

Year (Award Ceremony)	Image	Director	Film	Language	Citation
1967 (15th)		Satyajit Ray [1]	Chiriyakhana	Bengali	–
1968 (16th)		Satyajit Ray [2][3]	Goopy Gyne Bagha Byne	Bengali	–
1969 (17th)		Mrinal Sen [4][5]	Bhuvan Shome	Hindi	–
1970 (18th)		Satyajit Ray [6]	Pratidwandi	Bengali	–
1971 (19th)		Girish Karnad	Vamsha Vriksha[7]	Kannada	–
	–	B. V. Karanth
1972 (20th)		Adoor Gopalakrishnan [8]	Swayamvaram	Malayalam	–
1973 (21st)	–	Mani Kaul [9]	Duvidha	Hindi	–
1974 (22nd)		Satyajit Ray [10]	Sonar Kella	Bengali	–
1975 (23rd)		Satyajit Ray [11]	Jana Aranya	Bengali	–
1976 (24th)	–	P. Lankesh[12]	Pallavi	Kannada	–
1977 (25th)	–	G. Aravindan [13]	Kanchana Sita	Malayalam	For its courageous and uncompromising exploration of an ancient epic through a pronouncedly new cinematic language, for making the camera speak more eloquently than the introspective characters of the Ramayana, for projecting the interior landscape of the protagonists against the vast backdrop of nature, for matching profound philosophical ideas with astonishing evocations of the beauties of the physical world.
1978 (26th)	–	G. Aravindan [14]	Thampu	Malayalam	For creating a truly director's film which effectively brings out the pathos and ennui in the life of village circus artists and their audience.
1979 (27th)		Mrinal Sen [15]	Ek Din Pratidin	Bengali	–
1980 (28th)		Mrinal Sen [16][17]	Akaler Shandhaney	Bengali	For exploring the inevitable conflict between urban and rural cultures, for displaying in almost every sequence masterly handling and complete command over the medium.
1981 (29th)		Aparna Sen [18]	36 Chowringhee Lane	English	For effectively orchestrating the creative and technical elements in her first film, for a poignant portrayal of loneliness in old age and for bringing to the screen a true-to-life situation in post-independence India.
1982 (30th)	–	Utpalendu Chakraborty [19]	Chokh	Bengali	For his merciless expose of several aspects of social injustice with admirable command over his medium.
1983 (31st)		Mrinal Sen [20]	Khandhar	Hindi	For its subtle blending of nostalgia and contemporary social comment and the powerful visual exploration of the theme.
1984 (32nd)		Adoor Gopalakrishnan [21]	Mukhamukham	Malayalam	–
1985 (33rd)		Shyam Benegal [22]	Trikal	Hindi	For the masterly treatment of an unusual story which, through subtle and sensitive handling, brings out the conflicts in a family trapped in strange memories and situations.
1986 (34th)	–	G. Aravindan [23]	Oridathu	Malayalam	For his masterly and powerful depiction of changing society reeling under the onslaught of technical progress.
1987 (35th)		Adoor Gopalakrishnan [24]	Anantaram	Malayalam	For the exceptional mastery of the craft in dealing with a very complex and unusual subject for the cinema.
1988 (36th)		Shaji N. Karun [25]	Piravi	Malayalam	For remarkable success in accomplishing fusion of various elements and creating new heights of cinematic aesthetics.
1989 (37th)		Adoor Gopalakrishnan [26]	Mathilukal	Malayalam	For successfully capturing the spirit of the short story on his prison days by the celebrated writer Vaikkom Mohammed Basheer.
1990 (38th)	–	Tapan Sinha [27]	Ek Doctor Ki Maut	Hindi	For having presented a contemporary problem with courage, subtlety and finesse.
1991 (39th)		Satyajit Ray [28][29]	Agantuk	Bengali	For the outstanding craftsmanship and the command over the language of cinema he employed in creating a remarkable cinematic experience.
1992 (40th)		Gautam Ghose [30]	Padma Nadir Majhi	Bengali	For his stunningly convincing realisation of Manik Bandopadhyay's novel into a breathtaking cinematic experience.
1993 (41st)		T. V. Chandran [31]	Ponthan Mada	Malayalam	For a masterly rendering of a whole range of human experience into celluloid poetry.
1994 (42nd)	–	Jahnu Barua [32]	Xagoroloi Bohudoor	Assamese	For capturing Assamese life and reality in an original format uniquely associated with the director, and for enriching the spectrum of Indian Cinema thereby.
1995 (43rd)	–	Saeed Akhtar Mirza [33]	Naseem	Hindi	For the deeply moving portrayal of a family in turmoil in the midst of communal disharmony with lyrical quality and brilliant cinematic touches.
1996 (44th)	–	Agathiyan [34]	Kadhal Kottai	Tamil	For a brilliantly knit plot, maintaining the tempo and rhythms of an unusual love story till end.
1997 (45th)		Jayaraj [35]	Kaliyattam	Malayalam	For successfully transplanting the classic play by keeping the traditional "Theyyam" art form as a backdrop and weaving an extremely tight story, never losing control of the medium.
1998 (46th)	–	Rajeevnath [36]	Janani	Malayalam	For a warmly compassionate film where subject and treatment are in perfect harmony.
1999 (47th)	–	Buddhadeb Dasgupta [37]	Uttara	Bengali	For his skillful weaving together of different strands of life through metaphors, symbols and folk icons, to question the definition of humanity in our scoundrel times.
2000 (48th)		Rituparno Ghosh [38]	Utsab	Bengali	For working with a large group of actors within the confines of a rambling old house. The director builds an unpretentious, gripping and entirely credible narrative and brings about in the process some extremely powerful performances.
2001 (49th)	–	B. Lenin [39]	Ooruku Nooruper	Tamil	For telling the eventful story of a revolutionary who has killed for his cause and awarded the death sentence for his crime. It further looks at the issue of capital punishment.
2002 (50th)		Aparna Sen [40]	Mr. and Mrs. Iyer	English	For her effective and subtle handling of people caught in a trying and difficult times.
2003 (51st)		Gautam Ghose [41]	Abar Aranye	Bengali	For his complex weaving of human destines across a wide range of socio-political and cinematic histories.
2004 (52nd)	–	Buddhadeb Dasgupta [42]	Swapner Din	Bengali	For his appropriate usage of metaphors and complex handling of socio political situation present in West Bengal in a language simultaneously cinematic and poetic.
2005 (53rd)		Rahul Dholakia [43]	Parzania	English	For the compelling documentation of contemporary human lives trapped in difficult times of communal hatred and violence.
2006 (54th)		Madhur Bhandarkar [44]	Traffic Signal	Hindi	For weaving in the lives, livelihoods and concerns of the street dwellers in a metro and the inspiring stand that makes the protagonist a role model across society.
2007 (55th)		Adoor Gopalakrishnan [45][46]	Naalu Pennungal	Malayalam	For his delicate and subtle handling of gender issues in a conventional society. Four women of different marital status are trivialized and subjected to abject neglect by their immediate partners and family.
2008 (56th)		Bala [47]	Naan Kadavul	Tamil	For its powerful handling of an extraordinary subject that focuses on marginal characters with great convection.
2009 (57th)		Rituparno Ghosh [48]	Abohoman	Bengali	For the many layered narrative of emotional conflict, rich texture and ensemble performances.
2010 (58th)		Vetrimaaran [49][50]	Aadukalam	Tamil	For a gritty tale of love, jealousy and betrayal in the midst of bloodsport and violence, in the manner of realistic cinema.
2011 (59th)	–	Gurvinder Singh [51]	Anhe Ghore Da Daan	Punjabi	For its haunting portrayal of the lives of people in a village as they battle with the reality of large scale industrial development. The director deploys an inventive storytelling form where sound, space and body operate distinctly to frame the experience of a fragile existence. Each face portrayed in the film carries the signs of persistent trauma. This is an aesthetic tour de force that confidently and successfully reinvents the contours of Indian experimental cinema.

References

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