# National Film Award for Best Biographical Film

The National Film Award for Best Biographical 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 1984, at 32nd National Film Awards and awarded annually for the short films produced in the year across the country, in all Indian languages. At the 69th National Film Awards, the award is clubbed with National Film Award for Best Historical Reconstruction/Compilation Film, with the new category named as Best Biographical / Historical Reconstruction / Compilation Film.

## Winners

Award includes 'Rajat Kamal' (Silver Lotus) and cash prize. Following are the award winners over the years:
Awards legends :
* Indicates a joint award for the year
List of films, showing the year, language(s), producer(s) and director(s) :
| Year | Film(s) | Language(s) | Producer(s) | Director(s) |
| 1984 (32nd) | Padmashri Kalamandalam Krishnan Nair | Malayalam | James Paul | Matthew Paul |
| 1985 (33rd) | Satyajit Ray | English | Films Division | Shyam Benegal |
| 1985 (33rd) | The Seer Who Walks Alone | English | G. Aravindan | G. Aravindan |
| 1986 (34th) | Sister Alphonsa of Bharananganam | English | • Dejo Kappen • George Sebastian | Rajiv Vijay Raghavan |
| 1986 (34th) | Kamala Nehru | English | Uma Shankar | Ashish Mukherjee |
| 1987 (35th) | Basheer: The Man | English | Kannakulam Abdulla | M. R. Rahman |
| 1988 (36th) | No Award | No Award | No Award | No Award |
| 1989 (37th) | C. V. Raman: The Scientist and His Legacy | English | N. K. Saigal | Nandan Kudhyadi |
| 1990 (38th) | Baba | English | Mediart Film Pvt. Ltd | Rajiv Mehrotra |
| 1991 (39th) | Bhavantarana | Oriya | Bombay Cinematograph | Kumar Shahani |
| 1991 (39th) | Kabitar Ananta Jatrapathe | Bengali | Department of Information and Cultural Affairs, Government of West Bengal | Sanat Kumar Dasgupta |
| 1992 (40th) | Pandit Bhimsen Joshi | Hindi | Gulzar for Films Division | Gulzar |
| 1993 (41st) | Colors of Absence | English | • Shanta Gokhale • Arun Khopkar | Arun Khopkar |
| 1994 (42nd) | No Award | No Award | No Award | No Award |
| 1995 (43rd) | A Living Legend | English | Aurora Film Corporation | Satadru Chaki |
| 1996 (44th) | Hastir Kanya | Assamese | Digbijay Medhi | Prabin Hazarika |
| 1997 (45th) | Mounam Sowmanasyam | Malayalam | T. Ravindranath | Ravindran |
| 1998 (46th) | Premji: Ithihasathinte Sparsam | Malayalam | Kerala Sangeetha Nataka Akademi | M. R. Rajan |
| 1998 (46th) | Unarvinte Kalam: M.R.B. | Malayalam | Kerala Sangeetha Nataka Akademi | M. R. Rajan |
| 1999 (47th) | Nottam | Malayalam | Bina Narayan | M. R. Rajan |
| 1999 (47th) | Mallika Sarabhai | English | Films Division | Aruna Raje Patil |
| 2000 (48th) | Devanarthakan (The Divine Dancer) | Malayalam | A. V. Ali Koya for Kerala State Chalachitra Academy | Sudish Gopalakrishnan |
| 2001 (49th) | Teejan Bai | Hindi | Kuldeep Sinha for Films Division | V. Packirisamy |
| 2002 (50th) | Meeting Manjit | English | Ina Puri | Buddhadeb Dasgupta |
| 2003 (51st) | No Award | No Award | No Award | No Award |
| 2004 (52nd) | It's Prabhat | Marathi | A. V. Damle | Madhavi Vaidya |
| 2005 (53rd) | Hans Akela: Kumar Gandharva† | Hindi | Films Division | Jabbar Patel |
| 2006 (54th) | Minukku | Malayalam | • Devadasan Keezhpatt • Bina Narayanan | M. R. Rajan |
| 2006 (54th) | Guru Laimayum Thambalngoubi Devi | Manipuri | Aribam Syam Sharma | Aribam Syam Sharma |
| 2007 (55th) | Antardhwani† | Hindi | Films Division | Jabbar Patel |
| 2008 (56th) | The Assassination of Rajiv Gandhi: A Reconstruction | English | Films Division | R. Krishna Mohan |
| 2009 (57th) | Pancham Unmixed | • Bengali • Hindi • English | Brahmanand S Siingh | Brahmanand S Siingh |
| 2010 (58th) | Nilamadhaba | English | Films Division | Dilip Patnaik |
| 2011 (59th) | Vishnupant Damle: Bolpatancha Mook Nayak† | Marathi | Anil Anant Damle | Virendra Valsangkar |
| 2012 (60th) | Celluloid Man† | • English • Hindi • Kannada • Bengali | Shivendra Singh Dungarpur | Shivendra Singh Dungarpur |
| 2013 (61st) | The Last Adieu† | English | Films Division | Shabnam Sukhdev |
| 2014 (62nd) | Amar Katha: Story of Binodini† | Bengali | Films Division | Tuhinabha Majumder |
| 2015 (63rd) | Life in Metaphors: A Portrait of Girish Kasaravalli† | • English • Kannada | Reelism Film | O. P. Shrivastava |
| 2016 (64th) | Zikr Us Parivaksha: Begum Akhtar† | English | Sangeet Natak Akademi | Nirmal Chander |
| 2017 (65th) | Naachi se Baanchi† | | Films Division of India | Biju Toppo |
| 2017 (65th) | Sword of Liberty† | | R. C. Suresh | Shiny Benjamin |
| 2018 (66th) | No Award | No Award | No Award | No Award |
| 2019 (67th) | Elephants Do Remember† | English | Films Division of India | Swati Pandey, Viplove Rai Bhatia & Manohar Singh Bisht |
| 2020 (68th) | Pabung Syam† | Manipuri | Films Division of India | Haobam Paban Kumar |