National Film Award for Best Educational/Motivational/Instructional Film

National Film Award for Best Educational/Motivational/Instructional Film
National award for contributions to short film
Sponsored by	Directorate of Film Festivals
Formerly called	Best Educational Film (1960–1967) Best Educational/Instructional Film (1968–1985) Best Educational/Motivational Film (1986–1988)
Reward(s)	Rajat Kamal (Silver Lotus) ₹50,000 (US$600)
First awarded	1960
Last awarded	2021
Most recent winner	Sirpigalin Sirpangal
Highlights
Total awarded	55
First winner	Pond Culture

The National Film Award for Best Educational/Motivational/Instructional Film was one of the National Film Awards presented annually by the Directorate of Film Festivals, the organisation set up by Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, India. It was one of several awards presented for non-feature films and awarded with Rajat Kamal (Silver Lotus).

The award was instituted in 1960, at 8th National Film Awards and awarded annually for the short films produced in the year across the country, in all Indian languages. At the 70th National Film Awards, the award is discontinued and clubbed with National Film Award for Best Promotional Film, National Film Award for Best Scientific Film, National Film Award for Best Investigative Film, National Film Award for Best Exploration/Adventure Film, National Film Award for Best Anthropological/Ethnographic Film, National Film Award for Best Agriculture Film and National Film Award for Best Film on Social Issues, and two new categories were created; Best Documentary and Best Non Feature Film Promoting Social and Environmental Values. ^[1]

Winners

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

Awards legends
*	President's Silver Medal for Best Educational/Motivational/Instructional Film
*	Certificate of Merit for the Second Best Educational/Motivational/Instructional Film
*	Certificate of Merit for the Third Best Educational/Motivational/Instructional Film
*	Certificate of Merit for the Best Educational/Motivational/Instructional Film
*	Indicates a joint award for that year

List of award recipients, showing the year, film(s), language(s), producer(s), director(s) and citation
Year	Film	Language	Producer	Director	Citation	Refs.
1960 (8th)	Pond Culture	English	Films Division	N. K. Issar	–	[2]
	Cotton	English	Films Division	Krishna Kapil	–
	Wheat	English	Films Division	Krishna Kapil	–
1961 (9th)	Citrus Cultivation	English	Films Division	Krishna Kapil	–	[3]
	Coir Worker	English	F. R. Bilimoria	F. R. Bilimoria	–
	Ahvan	Hindi	Dhruva Kumar Pandya	Dhruva Kumar Pandya	–
1962 (10th)	Virginia Tobacco	English	Films Division	P. R. S. Pillay	–	[4]
	The Evolution and Races of Man	English	National Education and Information Film Ltd.	S. Sukhdev	–
1963 (11th)	Indian Ocean Expedition	Hindi	Children's Film Society	Shanti S. Verma	–	[5]
1964 (12th)	Sterilisation of the Female	Hindi	Films Division	G. H. Saraiya	–	[6]
1965 (13th)	Play Better Hockey	English	Children's Film Society	Shanti S. Verma	–	[7]
1966 (14th)
1967 (15th)	Akbar	English	J. S. Bhownagary for Films Division	Shanti S. Varma	–	[8]
1968 (16th)	Forest and The Man	English	K. L. Khandpur for Films Division	•Neil Gokhale  •P. B. Pendharkar	–	[9]
1969 (17th)	Life	English	K. L. Khandpur for Films Division	S. Gangooii	–	[10]
1970 (18th)	No Award					[11]
1971 (19th)
1972 (20th)	No Award					[12]
1973 (21st)	Sath Kutch Na Jayega	Hindi	•Dhiru Mistry  •Sureshwar Singh	•Dhiru Mistry  •Sureshwar Singh	–	[13]
1974 (22nd)	Atoms	English	(Late) Pramod Pati for Films Division	M. M. Chaudhuri of I. I. T., Kanpur	–	[14]
1975 (23rd)	Induced Breeding	English	K. K. Kapil	Suraj Joshi	–	[15]
1976 (24th)
1977 (25th)	Tobacco Habits and Oral Cancer	English	A. V. Films	Arun Khopkar	For its remarkable precision in describing the cause and effect relationship of tobacco habits and oral cancer. It gives a systematic and telling account of a scientific phenomenon and produces an overwhelming impact.	[16]
1978 (26th)	The Magic Hands	English	M/s Little Cinema	Santi P. Chowdhury	For the controlled style of the filmmaker which lends special eloquence to the images of the faces and the hands as also the graceful bamboo they work with.	[17]
1979 (27th)
1980 (28th)	Mariculture	English	Films Division	C. J. Paulose	For diligent research and meticulous execution.	[18]
1981 (29th)	The Four Minutes	English	Vijay B. Chandra for Films Division	B. G. Devare	For an effective and purposeful film made with imagination and skill which may save precious lives.	[19]
1982 (30th)	Kooduthal Paal Venamenkil	Malayalam	Kerala State Film Development Corporation	V. R. Gopinath	For a simple yet explicit film, with a down to earth approach, presenting nature's procreation with both restraint and beauty.	[20]
1983 (31st)	Oval Crop	English	Radha Narayanan	Mohi-ud-Din Mirza	For its qualities of technical excellence combined with the precision of content so vital to making an instructional film which sustains the interests of an audience even with its mundane subject matter.	[21]
1984 (32nd)	No Award					[22]
1985 (33rd)	No Award					[23]
1986 (34th)	Mitraniketan Vellanad	English	Cinemart Foundation	Jagannath Guha	For effectively bringing into focus the services of an institution engaged in tackling the rural problems at the grass roots level.	[24]
	For Better Living	English	•Padmalaya Mohapatra  •Ghanashyam Mohapatra	Ghanashyam Mohapatra	For the competence with which an important social endeavour like the upliftment of the Adivasis is depicted.
1987 (35th)	Paani	Marathi	Sumitra Bhave	Sumitra Bhave	For expounding that self help is the best help and that solutions to individual problems of those of a society can be initiated and completed successfully, even within the development process.	[25]
1988 (36th)	Chitthi	Hindi	Cinemart Foundation	Suhasini Mulay	For its authentic and poignant enactment of the problem of illiteracy that is treated with compassion and gentle humour.	[26]
1989 (37th)	Ser Alang	Karbi	Horticulturist, Karbi Anglong	Indrajit Narayan Deb	For their sensitive handling of motivational messages through the medium of cinema.	[27]
	Yun Sikhlayen Akhar	Hindi	Ramesh Asher Films	Ramesh Asher	For their sensitive handling of motivational messages through the medium of cinema.
1990 (38th)	Ducks Out of Water	English	D. Gautaman	Raj Gopal Rao	For beautiful imagery, elevating a routine theme to levels of aesthetic excellence.	[28]
	Natun Asha	Assamese	Beauty Sabhapandit	Arup Borthakur	For being an instructional film in which form and content compete for excellence.
1991 (39th)	A Story of Triumph	English	Poona District Leprosy Committee	Vishram Revankar	For portraying human triumph over the disease of leprosy through the testimony of cured and rehabilitated patients.	[29]
1992 (40th)	Kalarippayat	English	P. Ashok Kumar	P. Ashok Kumar	For a unique picturisation of the martial art of Kerala.	[30]
	Towards Joy and Freedom	English	Haimanti Banerjee	Haimanti Banerjee	For insight into the system of education being practised at Rabindranath Tagore's Shantiniketan.
1993 (41st)	AIDS	Malayalam	•Nooranad Ramachandran  •Ganab Baby  •Ochira Sathar	Nooranad Ramachandran	For presenting information on this disease in a simple, straightforward and direct manner.	[31]
1994 (42nd)	News Magazine No. 268 (A) Plague: Curable and Preventable	Hindi	R. Krishna Mohan	Mahesh P. Sinha	For its simple, direct and clear communication about the threat of plague.	[32]
1995 (43rd)	Home Away From Home	English	V. B. Joshi	Late Vishram Revankar	For presenting ably how the vision of Dr. Karve has been turned into a reality for education and development of women.	[33]
1996 (44th)	Rabia Chalikkunnu	Malayalam	Abraham Benhur	Ali Akbar	For its credible and inspiring portrayal of a young girl who overcomes her physical and social disabilities and becomes a role model for society.	[34]
1997 (45th)	Nirankush	Hindi	Venu Arora	Venu Arora	For a powerful dramatic narration of a young social worker's endeavours to attack the deeper social prejudice behind the heinous crime of female infanticide.	[35]
1998 (46th)	Silent Scream	English	Vivek K. Kumar	Vikram Kumar	For its daring attempt to shake people out of their apathy towards youth in distress.	[36]
1999 (47th)	No Award					[37]
2000 (48th)	Tulasi	English	Bhanumurthy Alur for Films Division	Rajgopal Rao for Films Division	For the powerful portrayal of an aged tribal woman Tulasi's single-handed crusade against de-forestation and the resultant participation of people in preserving forests.	[38]
2001 (49th)	Kanavu Malayilekku	Malayalam	Tomy Mathew	M. G. Sasi	For its attempt to reassert the tribal identity and impart a sense of dignity to the tribal children.	[39]
2002 (50th)	No Award					[40]
2003 (51st)	Fiddlers on the Thatch	English	Rajiv Mehrotra	Trisha Das	This film is the story of "The Gandhian Ashram School" in Kalimpong but it is also a story of the deprived kids gaining their dignity and hope of a teacher who fed their bodies and spirit, all bound by the common thread of music. The director achieves a poignant blend of visual narrative and music to create a heartwarming tale of "sharing and caring" in this film.	[41]
2004 (52nd)	No Award					[42]
2005 (53rd)	No Award					[43]
2006 (54th)	Filariasis	English	A. S. Nagaraju	M. Elango	For a straight forward and matter-of-fact treatment of a major health problem that has no cure but that can be controlled.	[44]
2007 (55th)	Prarambha	Kannada	Santosh Sivan	Santosh Sivan	For sensitively portraying the struggle faced by an HIV infected boy who is dismissed from school. The film takes a playful standpoint to inspire and instill a positive attitude towards this issue.	[45]
2008 (56th)	Polio Vs. Polio Victims	•English  •Hindi  •Marathi	Gulshan Sachdeva	Aman Sachdeva	For an innovative campaign for the eradication of polio, the film follows the polio afflicted who take the initiative for mass awareness by going door to door.	[46]
2009 (57th)	No Award					[47]
2010 (58th)	Advaitham	Telugu	K. Vijaypal Reddy	Pradeep Maadugula	For the documentary which exposes the human apathy of class difference through casteism in a very evoking and natural style. Through fun-filled situations and distressing moments, the director portrays the anguished and tragic aspects of casteism effecting human value and relationship.	[48]
2011 (59th)	A Drop of Sunshine	English	Public Service Broadcasting Trust	Aparna Sanyal	For demystifying and creating awareness towards schizophrenia through the story of the courageous journey of a young woman.	[49]
2012 (60th)	No Award					[50]
2013 (61st)	The Quantum Indians	English	Public Service Broadcasting Trust	Raja Choudhury	For an extremely efficient and precise analysis of the contributions of three renowned scientists in a manner that not only educates today’s generation but also provides insights into complex scientific phenomena in an accessible manner.	[51]
2014 (62nd)	Komal	English	Climb Media India Pvt. Ltd.	Prashant Shikare	For effectively and concisely communicating essential information to children to protect themselves from sexual abuse.	[52]
	Behind the Glass Wall	English	Gaahimedia	Aruna Raje Patil	For its exhaustive exploration of the world and challenges of the autistic and their caregivers.
2015 (63rd)	Paywat	Marathi	Mithunchandra Chaudhari	•Nayana Dolas  •Mithunchandra Chaudhari	A walk through on a winning path.	[53]
2016 (64th)	The Water Fall	English	Syed Sultan Ahmed	Lipika Singh Darai	A strong film that looks at issues of development and displacement through the eyes of an endearing protagonist.	[54]
2017 (65th)	The Little Girl We Were and the Women We Are		Rahi Foundation	Vaishali Sood	A poignant social issue handled boldly yet sensitively, steering the scarred past to a healing future.
2018 (66th)	Sarala Virala	Kannada	H. R. Sujatha	Eregowda	For highlighting the fundamentals of organic living through the life of L Narayan Reddy, whose simplicity, philosophy and knowledge is an example for others to follow, especially the young.
2019 (67th)	Apples and Oranges (short film)	English	LXL Ideas	Rukshana Tabassum	The metaphorical narrative of conflict and friendship between two teenage girls is brought out with a touch of humour.
2020 (68th)	Dreaming of Words	Malayalam, Tamil	Nandan	Nandan	-
2021 (69th)	Sirpigalin Sirpangal	Tamil	KKV Media Venture	B. Lenin	-

References

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External links

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