National Film Award for Best Screenplay
Winners
Following are the award winners over the years:

National Film Award for Best Screenplay

Section Title: Winners
Table Section Text: Following are the award winners over the years:

List of award recipients, showing the year (award ceremony), film(s), language(s) and citation

Year	Recipient(s)	Film(s)	Language(s)	Citation	Refs.

1967 (15th)	S. L. Puram Sadanandan	Agniputhri	Malayalam	–

1968 (16th)	Pandit Anand Kumar	Anokhi Raat	Hindi	–

1969 (17th)	Puttanna Kanagal	Gejje Pooje	Kannada	–

1970 (18th)	Satyajit Ray	Pratidwandi	Bengali	–

1971 (19th)	Tapan Sinha	Ekhonee	Bengali	–

1972 (20th)	Gulzar	Koshish	Hindi	–

1973 (21st)	Mrinal Sen	Padatik	Bengali	–

Ashish Burman

1974 (22nd)	Satyajit Ray	Sonar Kella	Bengali	–

1975 (23rd)	No Award

1976 (24th)	Vijay Tendulkar	Manthan	Hindi	–

1977 (25th)	Satyadev Dubey	Bhumika	Hindi	For powerfully recreating the biography of an actress, for its rare, psychological insights and understanding of human relationships, for the complex integration of theme, style and dramatic situation into an engrossing whole, which provokes the spectator into a new awareness of the predicament of the working woman in Indian society.

Shyam Benegal

Girish Karnad

1978 (26th)	T. S. Ranga	Grahana	Kannada	For Maintaining taunt narrative line without resorting to melodrama and retaining a film grip on the central idea in an action packed film.

T. S. Nagabharana

1979 (27th)	Sai Paranjpye	Sparsh	Hindi	–

1980 (28th)	Mrinal Sen	Akaler Sandhane	Bengali	For effectively combining the terse and pithy dialogue with creation of well-defined, lively characters to convey a poignant story which leaves a lasting impression.

1981 (29th)	K. Balachander	Thanneer Thanneer	Tamil	For translating the suffering of the people in drought-affected areas into a gripping visual narrative.

1982 (30th)	Mrinal Sen	Kharij	Bengali	For its economy of expression in the treatment of a sensitive theme.

1983 (31st)	G. V. Iyer	Adi Shankaracharya	Sanskrit	For its rich texture, lyricism and cinematic elegance in its presentation of Shankaracharya as an embodiment of greatness.

1984 (32nd)	Adoor Gopalakrishnan	Mukhamukham	Malayalam	–

1985 (33rd)	Bhabendra Nath Saikia	Agnisnaan	Assamese	For the powerful rendering of the saga of a woman who goes through the revolution against the prevailing social mores and comes to terms with herself.

1986 (34th)	Buddhadeb Dasgupta	Phera	Bengali	For its penetrative and sensitive screenplay depicting the trauma faced by an artist in search of his identity in relation to his professional and personal life.

1987 (35th)	Adoor Gopalakrishnan	Anantaram	Malayalam	For the precision in structuring a very complex narrative content requiring both exceptional dramatic and literary skills.

1988 (36th)	Arundhati Roy	In Which Annie Gives It Those Ones	English	For capturing the anguish prevailing among students of professional institutions.

1989 (37th)	M. T. Vasudevan Nair	Oru Vadakkan Veeragatha	Malayalam	For the gripping plot, clearly etched characterisations and the brilliant portrayal of life in Kerala a few hundred years ago.

1990 (38th)	K. S. Sethumadhavan	Marupakkam	Tamil	For depicting a simplistic story, capturing the various levels of philosophy, psychology, tradition and relationships perfectly.

1991 (39th)	M. T. Vasudevan Nair	Kadavu	Malayalam	For its sensitive and poetic treatment of disillusionment of an underprivileged adolescent.

1992 (40th)	M. T. Vasudevan Nair	Sadayam	Malayalam	For an extremely well structured script.

1993 (41st)	Satyajit Ray (Posthumously)	Uttoran	Bengali	For designing and structuring a screenplay from an imaginative and aesthetic angle, with a superb control over the unity of impressions.

1994 (42nd)	M. T. Vasudevan Nair	Parinayam	Malayalam	For his masterly use of fiction in cinema, reconstructing pre-1940s Kerala through sharply defined characters and remarkable control over dialogue.

1995 (43rd)	Ashok Mishra	Naseem	Hindi	For their masterly and sensitive visual narration of a volatile and confused situation of the year 1992 in India with great depth and simplicity of words.

Saeed Akhtar Mirza

1996 (44th)	Agathiyan	Kadhal Kottai	Tamil	For tightly knit and smooth flowing plot with excellent dialogues and razor-sharp tuning.

1997 (45th)	Rituparno Ghosh	Dahan	Bengali	For tactfully crafting a sensitive theme that dwells upon an incident which raises issues of social responsibility and personal awareness.

1998 (46th)	Ashok Mishra	Samar	Hindi	For Hindi film Samar where he has used a unique structure to ekplore the complek contradictions of urban/rural, rich/poor, pcwerful/dcwntrodden in a simple story line laced with poignant Moments of humour and irony for a perceptive insight into contemporary indian life.

1999 (47th)	Madampu Kunjukuttan	Karunam	Malayalam	For expressing with extreme economy and skilful cinematic treatment a story based on a sensitive screenplay woven around an old couple.

2000 (48th)	P. Bharathiraja	Kadal Pookkal	Tamil	For focusing, in present times of degeneration, on love, sacrifice and family values.

2001 (49th)	G. Neelakanta Reddy	Show	Telugu	For the film, which seems to probes a real – unreal dramatic situation involving two characters full of emotion and conflicts, with a rare touch of artistic sensitivity.

2002 (50th)	Aparna Sen	Mr. and Mrs. Iyer	English	For its fluid narration of the nuances of an ambiguous relationship in troubled times.

2003 (51st)	Gautam Ghose	Abar Aranye	Bengali	For weaving together the strands of time creating a resonant dialogue between the past and the present.

2004 (52nd)	Manoj Tyagi	Page 3	Hindi	For telling a complex story in a stunningly simple manner. It takes you into the empty shallow world of Page 3, in a manner which is funny yet deeply empathetic.

Nina Arora

2005 (53rd)	Prakash Jha	Apaharan	Hindi	For creating a crisp screenplay that is riveting and renders pace to the entire film.

Shridhar Raghavan

Manoj Tyagi

2006 (54th)	Abhijat Joshi	Lage Raho Munnabhai	Hindi	For the original vision with which Gandhi's philosophy of non-violence is given life in popular parlance.

Rajkumar Hirani

Vidhu Vinod Chopra

2007 (55th)	Feroz Abbas Khan	Gandhi, My Father	Hindi	For the imaginative and emotional handling of uncompromisingly steadfast side of the Father of the Nation with special reference to his relationship with his troublesome son.

2008 (56th)	Sachin Kundalkar	Gandha	Marathi	For its remarkable integration of three different plots using the sense of smell at as a liet motif to focus sensitively on human relationships.

2009 (57th)	P. F. Mathews	Kutty Srank	Malayalam	For the mysterious narrative that weaves together multiple perspectives to create a coherent whole, and yet leaves a haunting ambiguity.

Harikrishna

Gopal Krishan Pai	Kanasemba Kudureyaneri	Kannada	For linking the theme of death and its inevitability through a narrative style that presents two versions of the same event, not necessarily in chronological order.

Girish Kasaravalli

Pandiraj	Pasanga	Tamil	For the conversational quality with its cutting edge wit and life like freshness.

2010 (58th)	Vetrimaaran	Aadukalam	Tamil	For its kaleidoscopic variety that uses realism, tradition and contemporaneity, soaked in local flavour on an infinite canvas.

Anant Mahadevan	Mee Sindhutai Sapkal	Marathi	For retaining the concerns and values of a biographical account while translating it into the cinematic medium and honouring the essence of the original.

Sanjay Pawar

Sanjay Pawar	Mee Sindhutai Sapkal	Marathi	For bringing to life the textures of various characters through articulating their emotion and thought process.

2011 (59th)	Vikas Bahl	Chillar Party	Hindi	For a charming and utterly professional construct of an engaging middle class urban narrative that neatly delivers the values of compassion, friendship, loyalty, commitment and imagination in the world of children.

Nitesh Tiwari

Vijay Maurya

Avinash Deshpande Nigdi	Shala	Marathi	For the cinematic adaptation of a literary work that encompasses several issues and characters is always a challenging task. He skilfully transforms the descriptive power of the literary text into a cinematic narrative of layered and tender moments.

Girish Kulkarni	Deool	Marathi	For its immensely varied and textured use of language that is both an authentic and an energetic reflection of the different sections of life shown in the film: the language of the village, of politicians, of the scholar and much else.

2012 (60th)	Sujoy Ghosh	Kahaani	Hindi	A well structured screenplay that formed the heart of an edge of the seat suspense film.

Bhavesh Mandalia	OMG - Oh My God!	Hindi	A carefully crafted screenplay dealing with a social satire with shades of oriental philosophy.

Umesh Shukla

Anjali Menon	Ustad Hotel	Malayalam	Easy flowing, yet down to earth dialogues complement the well mounted entertainer with a social message.

2013 (61st)	P. Sheshadri	December-1	Kannada	For its kaleidoscopic variety that uses realism and colloquialism that is soaked in a contemporary flavour.

Panchakshari	Prakruti	Kannada	For retaining the concerns and values of an original work by a celebrated author while adapting it into the cinematic idiom.

Sumitra Bhave	Astu	Marathi	For an extraordinary blend in language and conversations that cover philosophy day-to-day anxieties and emotions in a most compelling manner.

2014 (62nd)	Srijit Mukherji	Chotushkone	Bengali	Chotushkone for the masterful telling of a taut suspense thriller which weaves a sinister web around the journey and lives of four egotistical characters.

Joshy Mangalath	Ottaal	Malayalam	Ottal for beautifully transposing Anton Chekov’s short story onto a canvas of nature that enhances the shades of the original.

Vishal Bhardwaj	Haider	Hindi	Haider for the multi layered and resonant dialogues that evoke angst and passion with crispness and brevity.

2015 (63rd)	Vishal Bhardwaj	Talvar	Hindi	For the dramatic structure devised by this writer effectively mirrors the tragedy of a family when their daughter is found murdered.

Juhi Chaturvedi	Piku	Hindi	For effortless movement of the plot structure, and natural repartees which happens in a delightful love/ hate relationship of a father and daughter.

Himanshu Sharma	Tanu Weds Manu: Returns	Hindi	For The writer's interpretation of love story set in a small town, becomes populated with interesting characters and their dialogues and dialects.

2016 (64th)	Syam Pushkaran	Maheshinte Prathikaaram	Malayalam	The screenplay interweaves the various idiosyncrasy of a small town near Idukki river.

Sanjay Krishnaji Patil	Dashkriya	Marathi	The film brings out a semblance of 'time' and 'place' specified in the novel by Baba Bhand.

Tharun Bhascker Dhaassyam	Pelli Choopulu	Telugu	The film has incorporated a Modern, Witty and 'on-your-face' dialogue that too with the local flavor.

2017 (65th)	Sajeev Pazhoor	Thondimuthalum Driksakshiyum	Malayalam

Jayaraj	Bhayanakam	Malayalam

Sambit Mohanty	Hello Arsi	Oriya

Sentence(s)

Bengali filmmaker Satyajit Ray was presented the award in 1993 posthumously for the film Uttoran and he had earlier received awards for Pratidwandi (1970) and Sonar Kella (1974).

final_sentence: Bengali filmmaker Satyajit Ray was presented the award in 1993 posthumously for the film Uttoran and he had earlier received awards for Pratidwandi (1970) and Sonar Kella (1974).