The National Film Award for Best Actress in a Leading Role is an honour presented annually at the National Film Awards of India since 1968 to an actress for the best performance in a leading role within the Indian film industry. The National Film Awards were called the "State Awards for Films" when established in 1954. The State Awards instituted the "Best Actress" category in 1968 as the "Urvashi Award for the Best Actress"; in 1975, the Urvashi Award was renamed as the "Rajat Kamal Award for the Best Actress". Throughout the years, accounting for ties and repeat winners, the Government of India has presented a total of 61 Best Actress awards to 49 different actresses. Since the 70th National Film Awards, the name was changed to "National Film Award for Best Actress in a Leading Role".
Until 1974, winners of the National Film Award received a figurine and certificate; since 1975, they have been awarded with a "Rajat Kamal" (silver lotus), certificate and a cash prize that amounted to in the 70th edition. Although the Indian film industry produces films in more than 20 languages and dialects, the actresses whose performances have won awards have worked in eleven major languages: Hindi (25 awards),Tamil (8 awards), Bengali (7 awards), Malayalam (6 awards), Telugu (4 awards), Kannada (3 awards), English (3 awards), Marathi (2 awards), Assamese (one award), Gujarati (one award) and Urdu (one award).
The first recipient was Nargis Dutt from Hindi cinema, who was honoured at the 15th National Film Awards (1967) for her performance in Raat Aur Din. The actress who won the most Rajat Kamal awards is Shabana Azmi with five wins, followed by Kangana Ranaut with four wins and Sharada with three wins. As of 2021, four actresses—Smita Patil, Archana, Shobana, and Tabu who have won the award two times. Sharada, Archana and Shobana are the only three actresses to get the award for performing in two different languages. Sharada was bestowed with the awards for her performances in two Malayalam films: Thulabharam and Swayamvaram in 1968 and 1972 respectively, and in 1978 for the Telugu film Nimajjanam. Archana was first honoured in 1987 for the Tamil film Veedu and was awarded for the second time in 1988 for the Telugu film Daasi. Shobana received her first award for the Malayalam film Manichitrathazhu in 1993, and her second for the English film Mitr, My Friend in 2001. As of 2020, the late Monisha Unni remains the youngest recipient of the honour; she was awarded for the Malayalam film Nakhakshathangal in 1986 when she was 16. Indrani Haldar and Rituparna Sengupta are the only two actresses to be honoured for the same film—Dahan. Kangana Ranaut is the only actress to be honoured for her performance in two different films (Manikarnika: The Queen of Jhansi and Panga) in the same year. Sridevi is the only actress who was honoured posthumously for her performance in Mom (2017). The most recent recipient is Yami Gautam, for her performance in the 2024 Hindi film Article 370.
Key Symbol MeaningYearIndicates the year in which the film was censored by the Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC)Indicates a joint award for that yearIndicates that the winner won the award for two performances in that year
Recipients
+List of award recipients, showing the year, role(s), film(s) and language(s)YearRecipient(s)Role(s)Work(s)Language(s)Refs. 1967 Nargis Dutt Varuna / Peggy Raat Aur Din Hindi 1968 Sharada Vijaya Thulabharam Malayalam 1969 Madhabi Mukherjee Supriya Dibratrir Kabya Bengali 1970 Rehana Sultan Salma Ahmed Dastak Hindi 1971 Waheeda Rehman Reshma Reshma Aur Shera Hindi 1972 Sharada Sita Swayamvaram Malayalam 1973 Nandini Bhaktavatsala Kamali Kaadu Kannada 1974 Shabana Azmi Lakshmi Ankur Hindi 1975 Sharmila Tagore Chanda Thapa,Kajli Mausam Hindi 1976 Lakshmi Ganga Sila Nerangalil Sila Manithargal Tamil 1977 Smita Patil Urvashi / Usha Bhumika Hindi 1978 Sharada Bharathi Nimajjanam Telugu 1979 Shoba Kuppamma Pasi Tamil 1980 Smita Patil Amma Chakra Hindi 1981 Rekha Amiran (Umrao Jaan) Umrao Jaan Urdu 1982 Shabana Azmi Pooja Inder Malhotra Arth Hindi 1983 Shabana Azmi Jamini Khandhar Hindi 1984 Shabana Azmi Rama Paar Hindi 1985 Suhasini Sindhu Sindhu Bhairavi Tamil 1986 Monisha Unni Gouri Nakhakshathangal Malayalam 1987 Archana Sudha Veedu Tamil 1988 Archana Kamalakshi Daasi Telugu 1989 Sreelekha Mukherji Lakkhi Parshuramer Kuthar Bengali 1990 Vijayashanti Vyjayanthi Karthavyam Telugu 1991 Moloya Goswami Ritu Firingoti Assamese 1992 Dimple Kapadia Shanichari Rudaali Hindi 1993 Shobana Ganga / Nagavalli Manichitrathazhu Malayalam 1994 Debashree Roy Dr. Aditi Sen Unishe April Bengali 1995 Seema Biswas Phoolan Devi Bandit Queen Hindi 1996 Tabu Virender Kaur Maachis Hindi 1997 Indrani Haldar Jhinuk Dahan Bengali Rituparna Sengupta Romita Chaudhury 1998 Shabana Azmi Rambhi Godmother Hindi 1999 Kirron Kher Banalata Bariwali Bengali 2000 Raveena Tandon Durga Saikia Daman: A Victim of Marital Violence Hindi 2001 Tabu Mumtaz Ali Ansari Chandni Bar Hindi Shobana Lakshmi Mitr, My Friend English 2002 Konkona Sen Sharma Meenakshi S. Iyer Mr. and Mrs. Iyer English 2003 Meera Jasmine Shahina Paadam Onnu: Oru Vilapam Malayalam 2004 Tara Hasina Hasina Kannada 2005 Sarika Shernaz Parzania English 2006 Priyamani Muththazhagu Paruthiveeran Tamil 2007 Umashree Gulabi Gulabi Talkies Kannada 2008 Priyanka Chopra Meghna Mathur Fashion Hindi 2009 Ananya Chatterjee Shikha Sarkar (Srimati Sarkar) Abohomaan Bengali 2010 Mitalee Jagtap Varadkar ShirmiBaboo Band Baaja Marathi Saranya Ponvannan Veerayi Thenmerku Paruvakaatru Tamil 2011 Vidya Balan Reshma (Silk) The Dirty Picture Hindi 2012 Usha Jadhav Yashoda Dhag Marathi 2013 Geetanjali Thapa Kamala Liar's Dice Hindi 2014 Kangana Ranaut Rani Mehra Queen Hindi 2015 Kangana Ranaut Tanuja "Tanu" Trivedi,Kusum "Datto" Sangwan Tanu Weds Manu Returns Hindi 2016 Surabhi Lakshmi Mother Minnaminungu – the Firefly Malayalam 2017 Sridevi Devki Sabarwal Mom Hindi 2018 Keerthy Suresh Savitri Mahanati Telugu2019 Kangana Ranaut Rani Lakshmi Bai Manikarnika: The Queen of Jhansi HindiJaya NigamPanga 2020 Aparna Balamurali Sundari "Bommi" Nedumaaran Soorarai Pottru Tamil 2021 Alia Bhatt Gangubai Kathiawadi Gangubai Kathiawadi Hindi Kriti Sanon Mimi Rathore Mimi Hindi 2022 Nithya Menen Shobana Thiruchitrambalam Tamil Manasi Parekh Monghi Kutch Express Gujarati 2023 Rani Mukerji Debika Chatterjee Mrs. Chatterjee vs Norway Hindi 2024 Yami Gautam Zooni Haksar Article 370 Hindi
See also
List of Indian film actresses
Notes
References
External links Official Page for Directorate of Film Festivals, India National Film Awards Archives