National Film Award for Best Cinematography (non-feature film)

National Film Award for Best Cinematography
National award for contributions to non-feature films
Sponsored by	National Film Development Corporation of India
Reward(s)	Rajat Kamal (Silver Lotus) ₹2,00,000
First awarded	1990
Last awarded	2022
Most recent winner	Siddharth Diwan
Highlights
Total awarded	80
First winner	• Santosh Sivan (Cameraman)  • Prasad Film Laboratories (Laboratory Processing)

The National Film Award for Best Cinematography is one of the National Film Awards presented annually by the National Film Development Corporation of India. It is one of several awards presented for non-feature films and awarded with Rajat Kamal (Silver Lotus).

The award was instituted in 1990, at 38th National Film Awards and awarded annually for short films produced in the year across the country, in all Indian languages. Since the 70th National Film Awards (2022), the primary/main cinematographer is eligible to the award, thus eliminating the existing Cameraman and Laboratory Processing sub-categories. ^[1]

Winners

Award includes 'Rajat Kamal' (Silver Lotus) and cash prize. Following are the award winners over the years:

Indicates a joint award for that year

List of award recipients, showing the year (award ceremony), film(s), language(s) and citation
Year	Cameraman(s)	Laboratory Processing	Film(s)	Language(s)	Citation	Refs.
1990 (38th)	Santosh Sivan	Prasad Film Laboratories	Mohiniyattam	English	For evocative, lyrical beauty with which the camera has painted the dancer and her milieu.	[2]
	Victor Banerjee	Prasad Film Laboratories	Where No Journeys End	English	For the dramatic manner in which the Indian landscape unfolds, seducing the viewer with timeless beauty of India.
1991 (39th)	Shekar Dattari	Prasad Film Laboratories	Silent Valley: An Indian Rain forest	English	For the arduous and patient coverage of the flora and fauna of the Silent Valley in Kerala over a period of one-and-a-half years and for giving an intimate portrait of the environment, recorded under difficult conditions.	[3]
1992 (40th)	Soumendu Roy	Adlabs	Sucitra Mitra	Bengali	For capturing on celluloid the many moods of the Bengal landscape and picturisation of the famous singer Suchitra Mitra.	[4]
1993 (41st)	Piyush Shah	–	Moksha	Bengali	For documenting a tragic reality with all its moods and emotions.	[5]
1994 (42nd)	Anoop Jotwani	Vijay Color Lab	Rasayatra	•Hindi  •English	For his fastidious interpretation through lighting, and the fluidity of his camera operation.	[6]
1995 (43rd)	Rafey Mehmood	Adlabs	Tarana	Hindi	For the beautiful images achieved through fascinating camera movements, excellent lighting, composition in tandem with music.	[7]
1996 (44th)	Hari Nair	Prasad Film Laboratories	Sham's Vision	English	For his brilliant use of light and shade, to bring to life even inanimate objects in the film.	[8]
1997 (45th)	Ashok Dasgupta	–	The Trail	English	This experimental film deals with the decolonisation of the mind through its strong and artistic visual images.	[9]
1998 (46th)	Ranjan Palit	Prasad Film Laboratories	In The Forest Hangs a Bridge	English	For his perception of images to define a style that illustrates the harmony in the film.	[10]
1999 (47th)	Mankada Ravi Varma	Prasad Film Laboratories	Kalamandalam Gopi	Malayalam	For the imaginative and excellent visual quality rendered with consistency.	[11]
2000 (48th)	Prasann Jain	Adlabs	Rasikpriya	•Hindi  •English	For capturing images that speak in tones of light and shade, thereby giving life to the lyrical form of the film.	[12]
2001 (49th)	Nilotpal Sarkar	Prasad Film Laboratory	Jorasanko Thakurbari	English	For imaginatively capturing images in light and shade, through smooth movements to bring life to the historical house of the Tagores'.	[13]
	Irom Maipak	Prasad Kalinga Lab	The Monpas of Arunachal Pradesh	English	For his fascinating style of framing under uncontrolled situations.
2002 (50th)	No Award					[14]
2003 (51st)	Ranjan Palit	Prasad Film Laboratory	Kaya Poochhe Maya Se	Hindi	For a cinematic observation of myriad shades of humanity and breathtaking chiaroscuro of light and shade.	[15]
	K. G. Jayan	Prasad Film Laboratory	The 18 Elephants: 3 Monologues	Malayalam	For sound design which evokes a vision of a world far, far away from the madding crowd, which oscillates between the silences and nature's pristine sounds.
2004 (52nd)	Manoj Raymond Lobo	Adlabs	Girni	Marathi	For a short film which is highly enriched through excellent visual choreography.	[16]
2005 (53rd)	Paramvir Singh	Adlabs	Parsiwada, Tarapore Present Day	•English  • Gujarati	For its visually poetic depiction of the decadent Parsi community, with imaginative use of great lighting and compositions.	[17]
2006 (54th)	Rajendra Janglay	–	Raga of River Narmada	–	For stretching the technical possibilities of videography and capturing the varying moods of river Narmada.	[18]
	Sanjay V.
2007 (55th)	Savita Singh	–	Kramasha	Hindi	For her arresting use of lenses and lighting in the creation of a strange and magical world, full of a certain atmospheric dampness and mistiness, further enhanced by a consistent exhibition of striking cinematic compositions.	[19]
2008 (56th)	Shariqva Badar Khan	Filmlab	Three of Us	–	For providing with amazing discipline and sensitivity, an intimate insight into the lives of a small family, living in a confined space, with exquisite use of composition, rhythm, lensing and lighting.	[20]
	Jaya Krishna Gummadi	Adlabs	When This Man Dies	•Hindi  •English	For using highly sophisticated texture and tonal work, with deep anticipation into the flow and narrative of the film, the cinematography strives to redefine ways of image making and experience.
2009 (57th)	Deepu S. Unni	Adlabs	Gaarud	•Hindi  •Marathi	For brilliant craftsmanship, intelligent lensing in aesthetically recreating the ambience and the diverse pulsating life in a semi-urban lodge.	[21]
2010 (58th)	Murali G.	Filmlab	Shyam Raat Seher	•Hindi  •English	For imaginative yet minimal, a balanced and evocative cinematography creates a character out of a city night atmosphere, setting the space and mood for the living characters in their journey beyond the real, nearing mythical.	[22]
2011 (59th)	S. Nallamuthu	–	Tiger Dynasty	English	For photographing with stunning images tigers and other wildlife animals in their natural habitat and giving us visuals which are both unique and poetic.	[23]
2012 (60th)	Abhimanyu Dange	Reliance MediaWorks	Kaatal	Marathi	For meticulous and confident image making that immensely augment the story telling.	[24]
	Raja Shabir Khan	–	Shepherds of Paradise	•Gojri  •Urdu	For simple, stark and sometimes breathtaking cinematography under the most difficult weather conditions, where some images linger on long after the film is over.
2013 (61st)	Kavin Jagtiani	Reliance MediaWorks	Mandrake !Mandrake !	Hindi	For exhibiting a wide spectrum of hues, both colour and black and white, while picturising the action in a dark warehouse full of unlikely light sources as also for the simulation of a silent era film with amusing trick photography.	[25]
2014 (62nd)	Indraneel Lahiri	–	Aamaar Katha: Story of Binodini	Bengali	For its stunning and sensual visual imagery that brings the story of Binodini alive.	[26]
2015 (63rd)	Amartya Bhattacharyya	–	Benaras: The Unexplored Attachments	Bengali	Poetry of visuals leaving a lasting imprint.	[27]
2016 (64th)	Alpesh Nagar	–	Kalpvriksha	Hindi	The mysterious beauty of the narrative comes alive through artful camerawork.	[28]
	Vishal Sangwai		Adnyat	English	The camera paints a rich and colourful canvas for a narrative that is both grim and tragic.
2017 (65th)	Appu Prabhakar	–	Eye Test		An exploration in tonalities and contrast, woven with memories and vision.	[29]
	Arnold Fernandes		Dawn		Potent imagery bordering on darkness and hope.
2018 (66th)	Ajay Bedi	–	The Secret Life of Frogs	–	For its consistent, relentless and splendid work in formidable circumstances, of visually capturing the life cycle and habitat of an endangered amphibian.

References

1. Under Secretary to the Government of India (14 December 2023). "Report on Rationalization of Awards Conferred by the Ministry of Information & Broadcasting | Ministry of Information and Broadcasting | Government of India". Ministry of Information and Broadcasting . Retrieved 25 August 2024.
2. "38th National Film Awards" (PDF). Directorate of Film Festivals. Retrieved 29 March 2022.
3. "39th National Film Awards" (PDF). Directorate of Film Festivals. Retrieved 29 March 2022.
4. "40th National Film Awards" (PDF). Directorate of Film Festivals. Retrieved 29 March 2022.
5. "41st National Film Awards" (PDF). Directorate of Film Festivals. Retrieved 29 March 2022.
6. "42nd National Film Awards" (PDF). Directorate of Film Festivals. Retrieved 29 March 2022.
7. "43rd National Film Awards" (PDF). Directorate of Film Festivals. Retrieved 29 March 2022.
8. "44th National Film Awards" (PDF). Directorate of Film Festivals. Retrieved 29 March 2022.
9. "45th National Film Awards" (PDF). Directorate of Film Festivals. Retrieved 29 March 2022.
10. "46th National Film Awards" (PDF). Directorate of Film Festivals. Retrieved 29 March 2022.
11. "47th National Film Awards" (PDF). Directorate of Film Festivals. Retrieved 29 March 2022.
12. "48th National Film Awards" (PDF). Directorate of Film Festivals. Retrieved 29 March 2022.
13. "49th National Film Awards" (PDF). Directorate of Film Festivals. Retrieved 29 March 2022.
14. "50th National Film Awards" (PDF). Directorate of Film Festivals. Retrieved 29 March 2022.
15. "51st National Film Awards" (PDF). Directorate of Film Festivals. Retrieved 29 March 2022.
16. "52nd National Film Awards" (PDF). Directorate of Film Festivals. Retrieved 29 March 2022.
17. "53rd National Film Awards" (PDF). Directorate of Film Festivals. Retrieved 29 March 2022.
18. "54th National Film Awards" (PDF). Directorate of Film Festivals. Retrieved 29 March 2022.
19. "55th National Film Awards" (PDF). Directorate of Film Festivals. Retrieved 29 March 2022.
20. "56th National Film Awards" (PDF). Directorate of Film Festivals. Retrieved 29 March 2022.
21. "57th National Film Awards" (PDF). Directorate of Film Festivals. Retrieved 29 March 2022.
22. "58th National Film Awards" (PDF). Directorate of Film Festivals. Retrieved 29 March 2022.
23. "59th National Film Awards for the Year 2011 Announced". Press Information Bureau (PIB), India. Retrieved 7 March 2012.
24. "60th National Film Awards Announced" (PDF) (Press release). Press Information Bureau (PIB), India. Retrieved 18 March 2013.
25. "61st National Film Awards" (PDF). Directorate of Film Festivals. 16 April 2014. Archived from the original (PDF) on 16 April 2014. Retrieved 16 April 2014.
26. "62nd National Film Awards" (PDF) (Press release). Directorate of Film Festivals. 24 March 2015. Retrieved 24 March 2015.
27. "63rd National Film Awards" (PDF) (Press release). Directorate of Film Festivals. 28 March 2016. Retrieved 28 March 2016.
28. "64th National Film Awards" (PDF) (Press release). Directorate of Film Festivals. Archived from the original (PDF) on 6 June 2017. Retrieved 7 April 2017.
29. "National Awards: Sridevi Wins Best Actress Posthumously For MOM, Dadasaheb Phalke For Vinod Khanna". NDTV.

External links

• Official Page for Directorate of Film Festivals, India
• National Film Awards Archives