National Film Award for Best Non-Feature Film

National Film Award for Best Non-Feature Film
National award for contributions to non-feature films
Awarded for	Best Non-Feature Film of the year
Sponsored by	National Film Development Corporation of India
Formerly called	President's Gold Medal for the Best Documentary Film (1953–1966) Best Information Film (1967–1983)
Reward(s)	Swarna Kamal (Golden Lotus) ₹3,00,000
First awarded	1953
Last awarded	2022
Most recent winner	Ayena
Highlights
Total awarded	87
First winner	Mahabalipuram

The National Film Award for Best Non-Feature Film 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 Swarna Kamal (Golden Lotus).

The award was instituted in 1953, at 1st National Film Awards and awarded annually for short films produced in the year across the country, in all Indian languages.

Winners

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

Awards legends
*	President's Silver Medal for Best Non-Feature Film
*	Certificate of Merit for the Second Best Non-Feature Film
*	Certificate of Merit for the Third Best Non-Feature Film
*	Certificate of Merit for the Best Non-Feature Film
*	Indicates a joint award for that year

List of films, showing the year (award ceremony), language(s), producer(s), director(s) and citation
Year	Film(s)	Language(s)	Producer(s)	Director(s)	Citation	Refs.
1953 (1st)	Mahabalipuram	English	Films Division	Jagat Murari	–	[1]
	Holy Himalayas	English	Films Division	K. L. Khandpur	–
	Tree of Wealth	English	Information Films of India	A. Bhaskar Rao	–
1954 (2nd)	Spirit of the Loom	English	Films Division	V. R. Sarma	–	[2]
	Darjeeling	English	Films Division	K. L. Khandpur	–
	Golden River	English	Films Division	P. V. Pathy	–
1955 (3rd)	Magic of Mountains	English	Films Division	Mushir Ahmed	–	[3]
	Wonder of Work	English	Films Division	–	–
	Education for Life	English	Ama Ltd.	–	–
1956 (4th)	Gotama The Buddha	English	Bimal Roy Productions for Films Division	Rajbans Khanna	–	[4]
	Khajuraho	English	Films Division	M. Wadhwani	–
	A Village In Travancore	English	Art Films of Asia Private Ltd. for Burmah-Shell	Fali Billimoria	–
1957 (5th)	A Himalayan Tapestry	English	Burmah Shell	Mohan Bhavnani	–	[5]
	Mandu	English	Films Division	Neil Gokhale	–
	Dharti Ki Jhankar	English	Films Division	Bhaskar Rao	–
1958 (6th)	Radha Krishna	English	Films Division	J. S. Bhownagary	–	[6]
	The Story of Dr. Karve	English	Films Division	•Neil Gokhale  •Ram Gabale	–
	Call of the Mountains	Hindi	Films Division	A. K. Chaudhuri	–
1959 (7th)	Kathakali	English	Films Division	Mohan Wadhwani	–	[7]
	Mayurakshi Dam	Hindi	Films Division	N. K. Issar	–
1960 (8th)	Kangra and Kulu	English	Films Division	N. S. Thapu	–	[8]
	Saga of Service	English	Films Division	Dilip Jamdar	–
	The Weavers	English	Films Division	F. R. Bilimoria	–
1961 (9th)	Rabindranath Tagore (Longer Version)	English	Films Division	Satyajit Ray	–	[9]
	Our Feathered Friends	English	Films Division	Gopal Datt	–
	Romance of the Indian Coin	English	Films Division	G. H. Saraiya	–
1962 (10th)	Four Centuries Ago	English	Films Division	Shanti Verma	–	[10]
	Himalayan Heritage	English	Films Division	N. S. Thapu	–
	The Telco Story	English	Hunnar Films	Clement Baptista	–
1963 (11th)	Song of the Snow	English	Films Division	N. S. Thapu	–	[11]
	Malwa	English	Films Division	S. N. S. Sastry	–
	Jain Temples of India	English	Films Division	Arun Chaudhari	–
1964 (12th)	One Day	English	Jagat Murari	S. N. S. Sastry	–	[12]
	All Under Heaven By Force	English	J. B. H. Wadia	J. B. H. Wadia	–
	And Miles To Go	English	S. Sukhdev	S. Sukhdev	–
1965 (13th)	Cloven Horizon	English	Kantilal Rathod	Kantilal Rathod	–	[13]
	Across India	English	Films Division	Gopal Datt	–
1966 (14th)
1967 (15th)	India '67	–	P. Sukhdev	P. Sukhdev	–	[14]
1968 (16th)	Everest	English	Arun Chowdhury for Films Division	N. S. Thapa	–	[15]
1969 (17th)	Amrita Sher-Gil	English	B. D. Garga	B. D. Garga	–	[16]
1970 (18th)	No Award					[17]
1971 (19th)	Bhutan
1972 (20th)	The Inner Eye	English	Satyajit Ray	Satyajit Ray	–	[18]
1973 (21st)	The Flame Burns Bright	English	Ashish Mukherjee	Ashish Mukherjee	–	[19]
1974 (22nd)	Man in Search of Man	English	G. P. Asthana for Films Division	Prem Vaidya for Films Division	–	[20]
1975 (23rd)	Winged Wonderland	English	Shanti Varma	Shanti Varma	–	[21]
1976 (24th)
1977 (25th)	Deshratna Rajendra Prasad	Hindi	Arvind Kumar Sinha	M. Prabhat	For an objective account of the national struggle for Independence as reflected in the personal life of India first President. The film is an excellent example of historical documentation, while it portrays with much sensitivity Rajendra Prasad as a human being.	[22]
1978 (26th)	Rumtek: A Monastery Wrethed in a Hundred Thousand Rainbows	English	Romesh Sharma	Romesh Sharma	For an outstanding film in which all the elements are so perfectly blended to create an evocative and informative picture of the continuity of life at this beautiful monastery.	[23]
1979 (27th)
1980 (28th)	Daldal	Hindi	Krystyna Khote	Pradeep Dixit	For powerful indictment of a social malaise-bonded labor-very sensitively handled and well researched.	[24]
1981 (29th)	Faces After The Storm	Hindi	Yash Chaudhary for Films Division	Prakash Jha	For a hard-hitting comment on a social problem capturing the anguish and horror of communal violence, made without compromise but with humanism and sincerity.	[25]
1982 (30th)	An Indian Story	English	Suhasini Mulay	Tapan K. Bose	For an outstanding investigate report into a subject of national concern and for its moving, graphic and sensitive treatment of a controversial subject.	[26]
1983 (31st)	The Procession	English	Aurora Films Corporation	Anjan Bose	For portraying the innocence of the Indian villager and making a political comment, with telling images of evocative sensitivity that needs no words.	[27]
1984 (32nd)	Music of Satyajit Ray	English	NFDC	Utpalendu Chakrabarty	–	[28]
1985 (33rd)	Bombay: Our City	English	Anand Patwardhan	Anand Patwardhan	For its deep concern for the problem of urban slums and the courageous presentation of the theme in an objective manner.	[29]
1986 (34th)	The Land of Sand Dunes	English	Orchid Films Pvt. Ltd.	Gautam Ghose	For the sensitivity and feel for the subject expressed in its effective cinematic style.	[30]
1987 (35th)	Bhopal: Beyond Genocide	English	Cinemart Foundation	•Tapan K. Bose  • Suhasini Mulay  •Salim Shaikh	For its sincere, conscientious study of a very important socio-technological issue of recent times, which explores its subject with a multi-faceted and humanistic approach.	[31]
1988 (36th)	Kanaka Purandara	Kannada	Girish Karnad for Films Division	Girish Karnad	For communicating, through the lives of Kanakadas and Purandaradas, the many facets of Bhakti, transcending all barriers of caste and creed, encompassing the love of man for man and man for God, using an [ sic ] unique fusion of different elements of cinema of the documentary genre.	[32]
1989 (37th)	Aar Koto Din	Bengali	•Department of Information and Cultural Affairs India  • Government of West Bengal	Shashi Anand	For a brilliant cinematic exposition of deep anguish and helplessness at the fate of large section of the children of our country.	[33]
1990 (38th)	Graven Image	English	•Sumitendra Nath Tagore  •Shyamasree Tagore	Abhijit Chattopadhyay	For combining the intimate portrayal of a sculptor in terms of biographical detail, bringing in the nuances of his art, summing up to an excellent portrait of a person, an artist, a period, and achieing this with high cinematic values.	[34]
1991 (39th)	Sons of Abotani: The Misings	Mishing	Dilip Doley	Gautam Bora	For effectively portraying the life of tribe which lives on the banks of river Bramhaputra and its struggle to survive. The film is marked by its lyrical quality, serenity, sculpted sound and imaginative music.	[35]
1992 (40th)	In Search of Indian Theatre	English	Arundhati Chatterjee	Abhijit Chattopadhyay	For a deep and sensitive insight into contemporary Indian theatre.	[36]
1993 (41st)	Maihar Raag	Bengali	Sunil Shanbag	Arun Bhattacharjee	For presenting a candid and spontaneous portrayal of the decay of our heritage, as it is being engulfed by clouds of heartless commercialism.	[37]
1994 (42nd)	Rasayatra	•Hindi  •English	Interaction Video Communication	Nandan Kudhyadi	For its sensitive and imaginative transposition of music, into a dignified cinematic expression.	[38]
1995 (43rd)	Tarana	English	Y. N. Engineer for Films Division	Rajat Kapoor	For its excellent cinematic interpretation of a traditional, mystic music form.	[39]
1996 (44th)	Sham's Vision	English	Manu Grover	Shaji N. Karun	For its moving portrayal of an artist's rich inner vision which lights his outer world of darkness.	[40]
1997 (45th)	Jataner Jami	Bengali	Raja Mitra and Associates	Raja Mitra	For its moving portrayal of a landless peasant's empowerment and his ultimate betrayal.	[41]
1998 (46th)	In The Forest Hangs a Bridge	English	Sanjay Kak	Sanjay Kak	For the excellent cinematic documentation of the triumph of the collective spirit of human endeavor.	[42]
1999 (47th)	Dui Paatan Ke Beech Mein (Between the Devil and the Deep River)	Hindi	Arvind Sinha	Arvind Sinha	For its in-depth portrayal of an environmental disaster in North Bihar, of lives uprooted and rendered 'amphibian' due to the blind imposition of the development model of embankment of rivers.	[43]
2000 (48th)	Rasikpriya	•Hindi  •English	Ministry of External Affairs	Arun Vasant Khopkar	For its sensitive treatment of Hindustani art music, tracing its evolution and cultural confluence to the present times, rendered with an exceptional collage of visuals and sounds.	[44]
2001 (49th)	Sonal	•Hindi  •English	Films Division	Prakash Jha	For its excellent use of the cinematic medium to give an insight into one of the greatest dancers of India.	[45]
2002 (50th)	Narayan Gangaram Surve	Marathi	Khayal Trust	Arun Khopkar	For the innovative telling of the story of the life of the great Marathi poet juxtaposed with the evocative visualization of his poems. The film makes brilliant use of image and metaphor as it evolves a complex and powerful narrative.	[46]
2003 (51st)	War and Peace	English	Anand Patwardhan	Anand Patwardhan	For setting out to search for the roots of violence manifest in many forms in the current times- from communal forces to nuclear race, Shot in India, Pakistan, Japan and USA, the film achieves a multi-layered understanding of these deep rooted tensions- at the same time recording the aspirations for peace, harmony and secularism, in the backdrop of Gandhian thought.	[47]
	Kaya Poochhe Maya Se	Hindi	Arvind Sinha	Arvind Sinha	For a probing, thoughtful, intense, yet a non-judgmental record of the myriad faces of humanity floating around the Howrah Station that lies by the side of the river Ganga. The director with just his keen eye and an unpredictable symmetry of images, gains an inner eye into the mystery called people. It is as though an entire civilization is reconstructed through images of floating faces, people and sounds.
2004 (52nd)	Girni	Marathi	Tripurari Sharan for FTII	Umesh Vinayak Kulkarni	For projecting the impact of noise over a child's mind with excellent visualization and fine cinematic dramatization.	[48]
2005 (53rd)	Riding Solo to the Top of the World	English	•Gaurav A. Jani  •P. T. Giridhar Rao	Gaurav A. Jani	Made in the best tradition of Cinema verity, personal, vivid and natural. The film leads the viewer from revelation to revelation giving us an opportunity to come to love and know the "Changpas" and their unique lifestyle.	[49]
2006 (54th)	Bishar Blues	English	Amitabh Chakraborty	Amitabh Chakraborty	For courageously treating a sensitive subject in a poetic form. It demolishes the myth that the practice of Islam is monolithic and not multifaceted.	[50]
2007 (55th)	Hope Dies Last in War	•English  •Hindi	Supriyo Sen	Supriyo Sen	For its sensitive albeit searching exploration of those in prisons in alien countries; a complex polyphony of variegated voices, the film is an endeavour to find hope in the midst of a struggle against despair.	[51]
2008 (56th)	AFSPA 1958	• Meitei  •Hindi	•Bachaspa Timayun Sunzu  • Haobam Paban Kumar	Haobam Paban Kumar	For a courageous depiction of the non-violent resistance of the people of Manipur to protest against a legislation, which undermines the values of self respect and the fundamentals of democracy. The documentation process by various crews and the way it is chronicled offers multiple perspectives.	[52]
2009 (57th)	The Postman	Tamil	K. Hariharan	B. Manohar	For a charming and heartwarming tale of a village postman caught in the web of changing times brought in by technology.	[53]
	Bilal	•Bengali  •Hindi	Sourav Sarangi	Sourav Sarangi	For showing effectively that disability is not an impedance to overcome the trials and tribulations of life.
2010 (58th)	Germ	Hindi	Satyajit Ray Film and Television Institute	Snehal R. Nair	Through abstract visualization and endearing black and white tones, the film depicts the human existence, afflicted by cancer, in a very sublime and somber tone. Along with the perception and growth, from child to youth and by the curious collection of thrown passport photographs, the film maker presents the changing perspective of the vision of the modern growing world in a very engaging manner.	[54]
2011 (59th)	And We Play On	•Hindi  •English	Pramod Purswane	Pramod Purswane	For creating a moving and compelling narrative of life and loss of a celebrated Olympian from a dedicated sports family. With simple yet emotive cinematic idiom, the film transcends the game of hockey and captures the aspirations of youth in small town India.	[55]
2012 (60th)	Shepherds of Paradise	• Gujari  •Urdu	Raja Shabir Khan	Raja Shabir Khan	For portraying the life of a nomadic shepherd family of Kashmir with an energy that goes far beyond empathy, creating a moving and compelling narrative that is vividly committed to its subject, illuminating extreme difficulties that are furtherdeepened by a politically vitiated social context.	[56]
2013 (61st)	Rangbhoomi	Hindi	Films Division	Kamal Swaroop	For an innovative and artistic exploration of the themes and concerns of the celebrated pioneer of Indian cinema, during a relatively unknown phase of his life, which leaves the viewer moved and shaken.	[57]
2014 (62nd)	Tender Is The Sight	Bengali	Films Division	Torsha Banerjee	For its sensitive and lyrical portrayal of ten-year-old Hassirbullah, who, though visually challenged, creates a symphony of sounds. The film captures his universe, his life and his talent, softly and gently.	[58]
2015 (63rd)	Amdavad Ma Famous	•Gujarati  •Hindi	•Akanksha Tewari  •Arya A. Menon	Hardik Mehta	The kites soar high bringing alive the colours of the land.	[59]
2016 (64th)	FireFlies in the Abyss	English	Chandrasekhar Reddy	Chandrasekhar Reddy	An intimately told story of a young boy’s quest for his dreams, vividly depicted in the claustrophobic environment of illegal coal mines.	[60]
2017 (65th)	No Award
2018 (66th)	Son Rise		V2 Films and Design Pvt. Ltd.	Vibha Bakshi	For its powerful portrayal of the mindset and effects of female infanticide, one of the country’s most heinous mass crimes, and for portraying the courage of those who stand to fight against it where it is most prevalent.	[61]
	The Secret Life of Frogs		Bedi Universal	•Ajay Bedi  • Vijay Bedi	For telling the tale, with profundity and beauty, of one of the world’s most unique and hitherto neglected amphibians.

References

1. "1st National Film Awards" (PDF). Directorate of Film Festivals. Retrieved 30 March 2022.
2. "2nd National Film Awards" (PDF). Directorate of Film Festivals. Retrieved 30 March 2022.
3. "3rd National Film Awards" (PDF). Directorate of Film Festivals. Retrieved 30 March 2022.
4. "4th National Film Awards" (PDF). Directorate of Film Festivals. Retrieved 30 March 2022.
5. "5th National Film Awards" (PDF). Directorate of Film Festivals. Retrieved 30 March 2022.
6. "6th National Film Awards" (PDF). Directorate of Film Festivals. Retrieved 30 March 2022.
7. "7th National Film Awards" (PDF). Directorate of Film Festivals. Retrieved 30 March 2022.
8. "8th National Film Awards" (PDF). Directorate of Film Festivals. Retrieved 30 March 2022.
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12. "12th National Film Awards" (PDF). Directorate of Film Festivals. Retrieved 30 March 2022.
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32. "36th National Film Awards" (PDF). Directorate of Film Festivals. Retrieved 30 March 2022.
33. "37th National Film Awards" (PDF). Directorate of Film Festivals. Retrieved 30 March 2022.
34. "38th National Film Awards" (PDF). Directorate of Film Festivals. Retrieved 30 March 2022.
35. "39th National Film Awards" (PDF). Directorate of Film Festivals. Retrieved 30 March 2022.
36. "40th National Film Awards" (PDF). Directorate of Film Festivals. Retrieved 30 March 2022.
37. "41st National Film Awards" (PDF). Directorate of Film Festivals. Retrieved 30 March 2022.
38. "42nd National Film Awards" (PDF). Directorate of Film Festivals. Retrieved 30 March 2022.
39. "43rd National Film Awards" (PDF). Directorate of Film Festivals. Retrieved 30 March 2022.
40. "44th National Film Awards" (PDF). Directorate of Film Festivals. Retrieved 30 March 2022.
41. "45th National Film Awards" (PDF). Directorate of Film Festivals. Retrieved 30 March 2022.
42. "46th National Film Awards" (PDF). Directorate of Film Festivals. Retrieved 30 March 2022.
43. "47th National Film Awards" (PDF). Directorate of Film Festivals. Retrieved 30 March 2022.
44. "48th National Film Awards" (PDF). Directorate of Film Festivals. Retrieved 30 March 2022.
45. "49th National Film Awards" (PDF). Directorate of Film Festivals. Retrieved 30 March 2022.
46. "50th National Film Awards" (PDF). Directorate of Film Festivals. Retrieved 30 March 2022.
47. "51st National Film Awards" (PDF). Directorate of Film Festivals. Retrieved 30 March 2022.
48. "52nd National Film Awards" (PDF). Directorate of Film Festivals. Retrieved 30 March 2022.
49. "53rd National Film Awards" (PDF). Directorate of Film Festivals. Retrieved 30 March 2022.
50. "54th National Film Awards" (PDF). Directorate of Film Festivals. Retrieved 30 March 2022.
51. "55th National Film Awards" (PDF). Directorate of Film Festivals. Retrieved 30 March 2022.
52. "56th National Film Awards" (PDF). Directorate of Film Festivals. Retrieved 30 March 2022.
53. "57th National Film Awards" (PDF). Directorate of Film Festivals. Retrieved 30 March 2022.
54. "58th National Film Awards" (PDF). Directorate of Film Festivals. Retrieved 30 March 2022.
55. "59th National Film Awards for the Year 2011 Announced". Press Information Bureau (PIB), India. Retrieved 7 March 2012.
56. "60th National Film Awards Announced" (PDF) (Press release). Press Information Bureau (PIB), India. Retrieved 18 March 2013.
57. "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.
58. "62nd National Film Awards" (PDF) (Press release). Directorate of Film Festivals. 24 March 2015. Retrieved 24 March 2015.
59. "63rd National Film Awards" (PDF) (Press release). Directorate of Film Festivals. 28 March 2016. Retrieved 28 March 2016.
60. "64th National Film Awards" (PDF) (Press release). Directorate of Film Festivals. 7 April 2017. Archived from the original (PDF) on 6 June 2017. Retrieved 7 April 2017.
61. "66th National Film Awards" (PDF) (Press release). Directorate of Film Festivals. Archived from the original (PDF) on 9 August 2019. Retrieved 11 March 2021.

External links

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