National Film Award for Best Feature Film in English

National Film Award for Best Feature Film in English
National award for contributions to Indian Cinema
Sponsored by	Directorate of Film Festivals
Formerly called	President's Silver Medal for Best Feature Film in English (1964)
Reward(s)	Rajat Kamal (Silver Lotus) ₹100,000 (US$1,300)
First awarded	1964
Last awarded	2013
Highlights
Total awarded	20
First winner	The Avalanche
Last winner	The Coffin Maker

The National Film Award for Best Feature Film in English is one of the National Film Awards of India presented annually by the Directorate of Film Festivals, the organisation set up by Ministry of Information and Broadcasting. It is one of several awards presented for feature films and awarded with Rajat Kamal (Silver Lotus).

The National Film Awards, established in 1954, are the most prominent film awards in India that merit the best of the Indian cinema. The ceremony also presents awards for films in various regional languages.

Awards for films in seven regional language (Bengali, Hindi, Kannada, Malayalam, Marathi, Tamil and Telugu) started from 2nd National Film Awards which were presented on 21 December 1955. Three awards of "President's Silver Medal for Best Feature Film", "Certificate of Merit for the Second Best Feature Film" and "Certificate of Merit for the Third Best Feature Film" were instituted. The later two certificate awards were discontinued from 15th National Film Awards (1967).

Produced and directed by Serbjeet Singh, the 1964 film The Avalanche was honoured with the first president's silver medal for Best Feature Film in English. After 1964, awards were discontinued for certain period and resumed for feature films produced in 1981 at 29th National Film Awards.

Winners

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

List of award films, showing the year (award ceremony), producer(s), director(s) and citation
Year	Film(s)	Producer(s)	Director(s)	Citation	Refs.
1964 (12th)	The Avalanche	Serbjeet Singh	Serbjeet Singh	–	[1]
1981 (29th)	36 Chowringhee Lane	Shashi Kapoor	Aparna Sen	For eloquently portraying the tragedy of a lonely woman belonging to the Anglo-Indian community in contemporary India.	[2]
1982 (30th)	No Award				[3]
1983 (31st)	No Award				[4]
1984 (32nd)	No Award				[5]
1985 (33rd)	No Award				[6]
1986 (34th)	Watchman	T. S. Narasimhan	Shankar Nag	For the charming rendering of the story an old watchman saving a young girl from suicide, himself having lost all his near and dear ones.	[7]
1987 (35th)	No Award				[8]
1988 (36th)	In Which Annie Gives It Those Ones	Pradip Krishen	Pradip Krishen	For portrayal of the agonies and aspiration of the present day student community in excellent cinematic language.	[9]
1989 (37th)	No Award				[10]
1990 (38th)	No Award				[11]
1991 (39th)	No Award				[12]
1992 (40th)	Electric Moon	Bobby Bedi	Pradip Krishen	For its tongue-in-cheek parody of royalty gone to seed. A humorous depiction of a decaying way of life, not without its tragic undertones.	[13]
1993 (41st)	No Award				[14]
1994 (42nd)	English, August	Anuradha Parikh	Dev Benegal	For adapting a complex and highly applauded novel with a cinematic skill and mastery matching the original work, a translation unusual in contemporary Indian cinema.	[15]
1995 (43rd)	The Making of the Mahatma	NFDC	Shyam Benegal	For tracing the significant early years of strife and struggle of Gandhi in South Africa in a realistic and lyrical form.	[16]
1996 (44th)	No Award				[17]
1997 (45th)	No Award				[18]
1998 (46th)	Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar	• Government of India  • Government of Maharashtra  • NFDC	Jabbar Patel	For an authentic and well researched biographical film which probes the political and social aspects of the life of one of the greatest leaders of India.	[19]
1999 (47th)	No Award				[20]
2000 (48th)	Pandavas: The Five Warriors	Pentamedia Graphics Ltd	Pentamedia Graphics Ltd	For bringing the epic of Mahabharata to life on screen with realistic depth and detail.	[21]
2001 (49th)	Mitr, My Friend	Suresh Menon	Revathi	For depicting the agony of individuals torn between social values practised in different societies. It explores the nuances of emotions within a marriage and family.	[22]
2002 (50th)	Stumble	2 Streams Media	Prakash Belawadi	For its intelligent handling of corruption prevailing in the world of information technology.	[23]
2003 (51st)	Dance Like a Man	NFDC	Pamela Rooks	For a human drama that engages issues of creativity and gender dynamics.	[24]
2004 (52nd)	Amu	Shonali Bose	Shonali Bose	For its innovative style of handling a girl’s search for her identity and her encounter with a scarred society.	[25]
2005 (53rd)	15 Park Avenue	Bipin Kumar Vohra	Aparna Sen	For its effective and intense portrayal of a schizophrenic girl who seeks a dream world that may or may not even exist.	[26]
2006 (54th)	Quest	Amol Palekar	Amol Palekar	For a bold film addressing issues of sexuality.	[27]
2007 (55th)	The Last Lear	Arindam Chaudhuri	Rituparno Ghosh	For a brilliant and visually stunning work of cinema on the life of a reclusive Shakespearian actor, well past his prime. His whimsical and passionate persona makes him a memorable and loveable character.	[28]
2008 (56th)	Land Gold Women	Vivek Agrawal	Avantika Hari	For its intense depiction of the issue of honour killing.	[29]
2009 (57th)	No Award				[30]
2010 (58th)	Memories in March	Shrikant Mohta	Sanjoy Nag	For the effective exploration of a bereaved mother’s coming to terms with the fact of her son’s sexual identity.	[31]
2011 (59th)	No Award				[32]
2012 (60th)	Lessons in Forgetting	Prince Thampi	Unni Vijayan	The investigative free spirit of a young girl which proves to be almost fatal, finds its cinematic experience in this sleek and well crafted film.	[33]
2013 (61st)	The Coffin Maker	Shree Narayan Studio	Veena Bakshi	Tale of a coffin maker and his wife living in a small Goan village. The film gets very interesting, intriguing and philosophical as death as a character enters their lives.	[34]
2014 (62nd)	No Award				[35]
2015 (63rd)	No Award				[36]
2016 (64th)	No Award				[37]
2017 (65th)	No Award

References

1. "12th National Film Awards". International Film Festival of India. Archived from the original on 25 February 2012. Retrieved 14 September 2011.
2. "29th National Film Awards" (PDF). Directorate of Film Festivals. Retrieved 4 October 2011.
3. "30th National Film Awards" (PDF). Directorate of Film Festivals. Retrieved 4 October 2011.
4. "31st National Film Awards" (PDF). Directorate of Film Festivals. Retrieved 9 December 2011.
5. "32nd National Film Awards" (PDF). Directorate of Film Festivals. Retrieved 6 January 2012.
6. "33rd National Film Awards" (PDF). Directorate of Film Festivals. Retrieved 7 January 2012.
7. "34th National Film Awards" (PDF). Directorate of Film Festivals. Retrieved 7 January 2012.
8. "35th National Film Awards" (PDF). Directorate of Film Festivals. Retrieved 9 January 2012.
9. "36th National Film Awards" (PDF). Directorate of Film Festivals. Retrieved 9 January 2012.
10. "37th National Film Awards" (PDF). Directorate of Film Festivals. Retrieved 29 January 2012.
11. "38th National Film Awards" (PDF). Directorate of Film Festivals. Retrieved 9 January 2012.
12. "39th National Film Awards" (PDF). Directorate of Film Festivals. Retrieved 27 February 2012.
13. "40th National Film Awards" (PDF). Directorate of Film Festivals. Retrieved 2 March 2012.
14. "41st National Film Awards" (PDF). Directorate of Film Festivals. Retrieved 3 March 2012.
15. "42nd National Film Awards" (PDF). Directorate of Film Festivals. Retrieved 5 March 2012.
16. "43rd National Film Awards" (PDF). Directorate of Film Festivals. Retrieved 6 March 2012.
17. "44th National Film Awards" (PDF). Directorate of Film Festivals. Retrieved 9 January 2012.
18. "45th National Film Awards" (PDF). Directorate of Film Festivals. Retrieved 11 March 2012.
19. "46th National Film Awards" (PDF). Directorate of Film Festivals. Retrieved 12 March 2012.
20. "47th National Film Awards" (PDF). Directorate of Film Festivals. Retrieved 13 March 2012.
21. "48th National Film Awards" (PDF). Directorate of Film Festivals. Retrieved 13 March 2012.
22. "49th National Film Awards" (PDF). Directorate of Film Festivals. Retrieved 14 March 2012.
23. "50th National Film Awards" (PDF). Directorate of Film Festivals. Retrieved 14 March 2012.
24. "51st National Film Awards" (PDF). Directorate of Film Festivals. Retrieved 15 March 2012.
25. "52nd National Film Awards" (PDF). Directorate of Film Festivals. Retrieved 28 January 2012.
26. "53rd National Film Awards" (PDF). Directorate of Film Festivals. Retrieved 19 March 2012.
27. "54th National Film Awards" (PDF). Directorate of Film Festivals. Retrieved 24 March 2012.
28. "55th National Film Awards" (PDF). Directorate of Film Festivals. Retrieved 26 March 2012.
29. "56th National Film Awards" (PDF). Directorate of Film Festivals. Retrieved 27 March 2012.
30. "57th National Film Awards" (PDF). Directorate of Film Festivals. Retrieved 28 March 2012.
31. "58th National Film Awards" (PDF). Directorate of Film Festivals. Retrieved 29 March 2012.
32. "59th National Film Awards for the Year 2011 Announced". Press Information Bureau (PIB), India. Retrieved 7 March 2012.
33. "60th National Film Awards Announced" (PDF) (Press release). Press Information Bureau (PIB), India. Retrieved 18 March 2013.
34. "61st National Film Awards Announced" (Press release). Press Information Bureau (PIB), India. Retrieved 17 April 2014.
35. "62nd National Film Awards" (PDF) (Press release). Directorate of Film Festivals. 24 March 2015. Retrieved 24 March 2015.
36. "63rd National Film Awards" (PDF) (Press release). Directorate of Film Festivals. 28 March 2016. Retrieved 28 March 2016.
37. "64th National Film Awards" (PDF) (Press release). Directorate of Film Festivals. Archived from the original (PDF) on 6 June 2017. Retrieved 7 April 2017.

External links

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