# National Film Award for Best Actress in a Leading Role

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 ₹2 lakh (US$2,300) 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 Sharada and Kangana Ranaut 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 are Nithya Menen and Manasi Parekh, who were honoured at the 70th National Film Awards for their performances in the 2022 Tamil film Thiruchitrambalam and the 2022 Gujarati film Kutch Express respectively.

## Key

| Symbol | Meaning |
| Year | Indicates the year in which the film was censored by the Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC) |
| † | Indicates a joint award for that year |
| ‡ | Indicates that the winner won the award for two performances in that year |

## Recipients

* With five wins, Shabana Azmi is the most awarded actor in this category. She is also the actress with most consecutive wins (3).
* Shobana with 2 Wins in two different Indian Languages.
* Kangana Ranaut has won the award three times. She is the only actress to be honoured for two different films in a same year.
List of award recipients, showing the year, role(s), film(s) and language(s) :
| Year | Recipient(s) | Role(s) | Work(s) | Language(s) |
| 1967 (15th) | Nargis Dutt | Varuna / Peggy | Raat Aur Din | Hindi |
| 1968 (16th) | Sharada | Vijaya | Thulabharam | Malayalam |
| 1969 (17th) | Madhabi Mukherjee | Supriya | Dibratrir Kabya | Bengali |
| 1970 (18th) | Rehana Sultan | Salma Ahmed | Dastak | Hindi |
| 1971 (19th) | Waheeda Rehman | Reshma | Reshma Aur Shera | Hindi |
| 1972 (20th) | Sharada | Sita | Swayamvaram | Malayalam |
| 1973 (21st) | Nandini Bhaktavatsala | Kamali | Kaadu | Kannada |
| 1974 (22nd) | Shabana Azmi | Lakshmi | Ankur | Hindi |
| 1975 (23rd) | Sharmila Tagore | Chanda Thapa, Kajli | Mausam | Hindi |
| 1976 (24th) | Lakshmi | Ganga | Sila Nerangalil Sila Manithargal | Tamil |
| 1977 (25th) | Smita Patil | Urvashi / Usha | Bhumika | Hindi |
| 1978 (26th) | Sharada | Bharathi | Nimajjanam | Telugu |
| 1979 (27th) | Shoba | Kuppamma | Pasi | Tamil |
| 1980 (28th) | Smita Patil | Amma | Chakra | Hindi |
| 1981 (29th) | Rekha | Amiran (Umrao Jaan) | Umrao Jaan | Urdu |
| 1982 (30th) | Shabana Azmi | Pooja Inder Malhotra | Arth | Hindi |
| 1983 (31st) | Shabana Azmi | Jamini | Khandhar | Hindi |
| 1984 (32nd) | Shabana Azmi | Rama | Paar | Hindi |
| 1985 (33rd) | Suhasini | Sindhu | Sindhu Bhairavi | Tamil |
| 1986 (34th) | Monisha Unni | Gouri | Nakhakshathangal | Malayalam |
| 1987 (35th) | Archana | Sudha | Veedu | Tamil |
| 1988 (36th) | Archana | Kamalakshi | Daasi | Telugu |
| 1989 (37th) | Sreelekha Mukherji | Lakkhi | Parshuramer Kuthar | Bengali |
| 1990 (38th) | Vijayashanti | Vyjayanthi | Karthavyam | Telugu |
| 1991 (39th) | Moloya Goswami | Ritu | Firingoti | Assamese |
| 1992 (40th) | Dimple Kapadia | Shanichari | Rudaali | Hindi |
| 1993 (41st) | Shobana | Ganga / Nagavalli | Manichitrathazhu | Malayalam |
| 1994 (42nd) | Debashree Roy | Dr. Aditi Sen | Unishe April | Bengali |
| 1995 (43rd) | Seema Biswas | Phoolan Devi | Bandit Queen | Hindi |
| 1996 (44th) | Tabu | Virender Kaur | Maachis | Hindi |
| 1997 (45th) † | Indrani Haldar | Jhinuk | Dahan | Bengali |
| 1997 (45th) † | Rituparna Sengupta | Romita Chaudhury | Dahan | Bengali |
| 1998 (46th) | Shabana Azmi | Rambhi | Godmother | Hindi |
| 1999 (47th) | Kirron Kher | Banalata | Bariwali | Bengali |
| 2000 (48th) | Raveena Tandon | Durga Saikia | Daman: A Victim of Marital Violence | Hindi |
| 2001 (49th) † | Tabu | Mumtaz Ali Ansari | Chandni Bar | Hindi |
| 2001 (49th) † | Shobana | Lakshmi | Mitr, My Friend | English |
| 2002 (50th) | Konkona Sen Sharma | Meenakshi S. Iyer | Mr. and Mrs. Iyer | English |
| 2003 (51st) | Meera Jasmine | Shahina | Paadam Onnu: Oru Vilapam | Malayalam |
| 2004 (52nd) | Tara | Hasina | Hasina | Kannada |
| 2005 (53rd) | Sarika | Shernaz | Parzania | English |
| 2006 (54th) | Priyamani | Muththazhagu | Paruthiveeran | Tamil |
| 2007 (55th) | Umashree | Gulabi | Gulabi Talkies | Kannada |
| 2008 (56th) | Priyanka Chopra | Meghna Mathur | Fashion | Hindi |
| 2009 (57th) | Ananya Chatterjee | Shikha Sarkar (Srimati Sarkar) | Abohomaan | Bengali |
| 2010 (58th) † | Mitalee Jagtap Varadkar | Shirmi | Baboo Band Baaja | Marathi |
| 2010 (58th) † | Saranya Ponvannan | Veerayi | Thenmerku Paruvakaatru | Tamil |
| 2011 (59th) | Vidya Balan | Reshma (Silk) | The Dirty Picture | Hindi |
| 2012 (60th) | Usha Jadhav | Yashoda | Dhag | Marathi |
| 2013 (61st) | Geetanjali Thapa | Kamala | Liar's Dice | Hindi |
| 2014 (62nd) | Kangana Ranaut | Rani Mehra | Queen | Hindi |
| 2015 (63rd) | Kangana Ranaut | Tanuja "Tanu" Trivedi, Kusum "Datto" Sangwan | Tanu Weds Manu Returns | Hindi |
| 2016 (64th) | Surabhi Lakshmi | Mother | Minnaminungu – the Firefly | Malayalam |
| 2017 (65th) | Sridevi | Devki Sabarwal | Mom | Hindi |
| 2018 (66th) | Keerthy Suresh | Savitri | Mahanati | Telugu |
| 2019 (67th) ‡ | Kangana Ranaut | Rani Lakshmi Bai | Manikarnika: The Queen of Jhansi | Hindi |
| 2019 (67th) ‡ | Kangana Ranaut | Jaya Nigam | Panga | Hindi |
| 2020 (68th) | Aparna Balamurali | Sundari "Bommi" Nedumaaran | Soorarai Pottru | Tamil |
| 2021 (69th) † | Alia Bhatt | Gangubai Kathiawadi | Gangubai Kathiawadi | Hindi |
| 2021 (69th) † | Kriti Sanon | Mimi Rathore | Mimi | Hindi |
| 2022 (70th) † | Nithya Menen | Shobana | Thiruchitrambalam | Tamil |
| 2022 (70th) † | Manasi Parekh | Monghi | Kutch Express | Gujarati |