# National Film Award for Best Debut Film of a Director

The National Film Award for Best Debut Film of a Director 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 feature films and awarded with Golden Lotus (Swarna Kamal).
The award was instituted in 1980, at 28th National Film Awards and has been awarded annually for films produced in the year across the country, in all Indian languages; Hindi (11 Awards), Bengali and Malayalam (9 Awards each), Tamil (5 Awards), Marathi (3 Awards), Assamese, English and Telugu (2 each), Haryanvi, Jasari, Karbi and Ladakhi (1 Each).
The award includes 'Golden Lotus Award' (Swarna Kamal) and cash prize. Until 69th edition, the award was given to director and producer. The name was shortened to Best Debut Film of a Director since 70th National Film Awards, and the director alone is awarded. The prize money was increased to ₹3,00,000.

## Winners

* Indicates a joint award for that year

### 1980–2021

List of award films, showing the year (award ceremony), language(s), producer(s) and director(s) :
| Year | Film(s) | Language(s) | Producer(s) | Director(s) |
| 1980 (28th) | Maina Tadanta | Bengali | – | Utpalendu Chakrabarty |
| 1981 (29th) | Aadharshila | Hindi | Ashok Ahuja | Ashok Ahuja |
| 1982 (30th) | Kann Sivanthaal Mann Sivakkum | Tamil | R. Venkat Raman | Sreedhar Rajan |
| 1983 (31st) | Jaane Bhi Do Yaaro | Hindi | NFDC | Kundan Shah |
| 1984 (32nd) | Meendum Oru Kaathal Kathai | Tamil | Radhika Pothan | Prathap K. Pothan |
| 1985 (33rd) | New Delhi Times | Hindi | P. K. Tiwari | Romesh Sharma |
| 1986 (34th) | Yeh Woh Manzil To Nahin | Hindi | Sudhir Mishra | Sudhir Mishra |
| 1987 (35th) | Ekti Jiban | Bengali | Chalchitra | Raja Mitra |
| 1988 (36th) | Trishagni | Hindi | Nabendu Ghosh | Nabendu Ghosh |
| 1989 (37th) | Wosobipo | Karbi | Karbi Anglong District Council | Gautam Bora |
| 1990 (38th) | Perumthachan | Malayalam | G. Jayakumar | Ajayan |
| 1991 (39th) | Haladhar | Assamese | • Geeti Barua • Dwijen Hazorika | Sanjeev Hazorika |
| 1992 (40th) | Miss Beatty's Children | English | • NFDC • Doordarshan • Rooks AV | Pamela Rooks |
| 1993 (41st) | Sunya Theke Suru | Bengali | • H. Das • Madhumanti Maitra • M. Das | Ashoke Viswanathan |
| 1994 (42nd) | Mogamul | Tamil | J. Dharmambal | Gnana Rajasekaran |
| 1995 (43rd) | Kahini | Bengali | • Chandramala Bhattacharya • Malaya Bhattacharya | Malaya Bhattacharya |
| 1996 (44th) | Rag Birag | Assamese | • Bhabhen Baruah • Khanin Baruah | Bidyut Chakraborty |
| 1997 (45th) | Bhoothakkannadi | Malayalam | Nair Krishnakumar Unni | A. K. Lohithadas |
| 1998 (46th) | Daya | Malayalam | C. K. Gopinath | Venu |
| 1999 (47th) | Dollar Dreams | English | Sekhar Kammula | Sekhar Kammula |
| 1999 (47th) | Laado | Haryanvi | Kumud Chaudhary | Ashwini Chaudhary |
| 2000 (48th) | Sayahnam | Malayalam | M. S. Nazeer | R. Sarath |
| 2001 (49th) | Thilaadanam | Telugu | NFDC | K. N. T. Sastry |
| 2002 (50th) | Patalghar | Bengali | Niti Sonee Gourisaria | Abhijit Chaudhuri |
| 2002 (50th) | Prohor | Bengali | Debjani Gupta | Subhadro Chaudhary |
| 2003 (51st) | Margam | Malayalam | Rajiv Vijay Raghavan | Rajiv Vijay Raghavan |
| 2004 (52nd) | Grahanam | Telugu | N. Anji Reddy | Mohan Krishna Indraganti |
| 2005 (53rd) | Parineeta | Hindi | Vidhu Vinod Chopra | Pradeep Sarkar |
| 2006 (54th) | Eakantham | Malayalam | Anthony Joseph | Madhu Kaithapram |
| 2006 (54th) | Kabul Express | Hindi | Aditya Chopra | Kabir Khan |
| 2007 (55th) | Frozen | • Hindi • Ladakhi | Shivajee Chandrabhushan | Shivajee Chandrabhushan |
| 2008 (56th) | A Wednesday! | Hindi | UTV Motion Pictures | Neeraj Pandey |
| 2009 (57th) | Lahore | Hindi | Vivek Khatkar | Sanjay Puran Singh Chauhan |
| 2010 (58th) | Baboo Band Baaja | Marathi | Nita Jadhav | Rajesh Pinjani |
| 2011 (59th) | Aaranya Kaandam | Tamil | S. P. Charan | Thiagarajan Kumararaja |
| 2012 (60th) | Chittagong | Hindi | Bedabrata Pain | Bedabrata Pain |
| 2012 (60th) | 101 Chodyangal | Malayalam | Thomas Kottackkakom | Sidhartha Siva |
| 2013 (61st) | Fandry | Marathi | • Navalkha Arts • Holy Basil Combine | Nagraj Manjule |
| 2014 (62nd) | Asha Jaoar Majhe | Bengali | • For Films • Salaam Cinema | Aditya Vikram Sengupta |
| 2015 (63rd) | Masaan | Hindi | Phantom Films | Neeraj Ghaywan |
| 2016 (64th) | Alifa | Bengali | Amaan Ahmed | Deep Choudhury |
| 2017 (65th) | Sinjar | Jasari | Shibu G. Suseelan | Pampally |
| 2018 (66th) | Naal | Marathi | Nagraj Manjule | Sudhakar Reddy Yakkanti |
| 2019 (67th) | Helen | Malayalam | Vineeth Sreenivasan | Mathukutty Xavier |
| 2020 (68th) | Mandela | Tamil | S. Sashikanth | Madonne Ashwin |
| 2021 (69th) | Meppadiyan | Malayalam | Unni Mukundan Films | Vishnu Mohan |

### 2022–present

Since the 70th National Film Awards, director alone is awarded.
List of award films, showing the year (award ceremony), language(s), producer(s) and director(s) :
| Year | Film(s) | Language(s) | Director(s) | Refs. |
| 2022 (70th) | Fouja | Haryanvi | Pramod Kumar | |