# National Film Award for Best Investigative Film

The National Film Award for Best Investigative 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 1990, at 38th National Film Awards and awarded annually for 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 Educational/Motivational/Instructional Film, National Film Award for Best Exploration/Adventure Film, National Film Award for Best Anthropological/Ethnographic Film, National Film Award for Best Agriculture Film, National Film Award for Best Film on Social Issues and National Film Award for Best Non-Feature Environment/Conservation/Preservation Film, and two new categories were created; Best Documentary and Best Non Feature Film Promoting Social and Environmental Values.

## Winners

Award includes 'Rajat Kamal' (Silver Lotus) and cash prize. Following are the award winners over the years:
List of films, showing the year, language(s), producer(s) and director(s) :
| Year | Film(s) | Language(s) | Producer(s) | Director(s) |
| 1990 (38th) | Una Mitran Di Yaad Pyaari (In Memory of Friends) | • English • Hindi • Punjabi | Anand Patwardhan | Anand Patwardhan |
| 1991 (39th) | Bhagirathi Ki Pukaar | Hindi | Anwar Jamal | Anwar Jamal |
| 1992 (40th) | Ram ke Naam | Hindi | Anand Patwardhan | Anand Patwardhan |
| 1993 (41st) | Benefit For Whom at Whose Cost? | English | Dinesh Lakhanpal | Dinesh Lakhanpal |
| 1994 (42nd) | Father, Son and Holy War (Part I – Trial by Fire, Part II – Hero Pharmacy) | • Hindi • English | Anand Patwardhan | Anand Patwardhan |
| 1995 (43rd) | Limit to Freedom | English | Deepak Roy | Deepak Roy |
| 1996 (44th) | N. M. No. 309 Bhiwandi Tragedy | English | Yash Chowdhary | V. Packiri Swamy |
| 1997 (45th) | Thirst | Hindi | Y. N. Engineer for Films Division | Swadesh Pathak for Films Division |
| 1998 (46th) | Saga of Darkness | Bengali | Creative Image | Gautam Sen |
| 1999 (47th) | No Award | No Award | No Award | No Award |
| 2000 (48th) | Wearing the face | English | Bankim for Films Division | Joshy Joseph for Films Division |
| 2001 (49th) | Kalahandi | • Oriya • English | Soudamini Mishra | Gautam Ghose |
| 2002 (50th) | No Award | No Award | No Award | No Award |
| 2003 (51st) | A Silent Killer | English | Dhananjoy Mondal | Dhananjoy Mondal |
| 2004 (52nd) | Harvest of Hunger | • English • Oriya | Action Aid India | Rupashree Nanda |
| 2005 (53rd) | The Whistle Blowers | English | Rajiv Mehrotra | Umesh Aggarwal |
| 2006 (54th) | Mere Desh Ki Dharti | Hindi | Rajiv Mehrotra | Sumit Khanna |
| 2007 (55th) | The Journalist and a Jihadi | English | Romesh Sharma | • Romesh Sharma • Ahmad Jamal |
| 2008 (56th) | Distant Rumblings | English | Ms. Rongsenkala | Bani Prakash Das |
| 2009 (57th) | No Award | No Award | No Award | No Award |
| 2010 (58th) | A Pestering Journey | • Malayalam • Punjabi • Hindi • English • Tulu | Ranjini Krishnan | K. R. Manoj |
| 2011 (59th) | Cotton for My Shroud | English | Kavita Bahl | • Nandan Saxena • Kavita Bahl |
| 2012 (60th) | Inshallah, Kashmir | English | Ashvin Kumar | Ashvin Kumar |
| 2013 (61st) | Katiyabaaz | • Hindi • Urdu • English | Globalistan Films Pvt. Ltd. | • Deepti Kakkar • Fahad Mustafa |
| 2014 (62nd) | Phum Shang | | Films Division | Haobam Paban Kumar |
| 2015 (63rd) | Tezpur 1962 | English | Films Division | Samujjal Kashyap |
| 2016 (64th) | Placebo | English | Archana Fadke | Abhay Kumar |
| 2017 (65th) | 1984, When the Sun Didn't Rise | | Teenaa Kaur Pasricha | Teenaa Kaur Pasricha |
| 2018 (66th) | Amoli | | Culture Machine Media Pvt. Ltd. | • Jasmine Kaur Roy • Avinash Roy |
| 2020 (68th) | The Saviour Brig. Pritam Singh | Punjabi | Akaal Productions | • Paramjeet Singh Kattu • Karanvir Singh Sibla |
| 2021 (69th) | Looking for Challan | English | Indira Gandhi National Centre for the Arts | Bappa Ray |