# National Film Award for Best Actor in a Leading Role

The National Film Award for Best Actor in a Leading Role is an honour presented annually at the National Film Awards of India instituted since 1967 to actors who have delivered the best performance in a leading role within the Indian film industry. Called the "State Awards for Films" when established in 1954, the National Film Awards ceremony is older than the Directorate of Film Festivals. The State Awards instituted the individual award in 1968 as the "Bharat Award for the Best Actor"; in 1975, it was renamed as the "Rajat Kamal Award for the Best Actor". As of 2024, accounting for ties and repeat winners, the Government of India has presented a total of 64 "Best Actor" awards to 49 actors. 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. Since the 70th National Film Awards, the name was changed to "National Film Award for Best Actor in a Leading Role".
Although the Indian film industry produces films in around 20 languages and dialects, the actors whose performances have won awards have worked in eight major languages: Hindi (twenty-seven awards), Malayalam (thirteen awards), Tamil (nine awards), Bengali (five awards), Kannada (four awards), Marathi (three awards), English (two awards), and Telugu (one award).
The first recipient was Uttam Kumar from Bengali cinema, who was honoured at the 15th National Film Awards in 1967 for his performances in Anthony Firingee and Chiriyakhana. He was also the first actor who won this award for two different films in the same year. As of 2022 edition, Amitabh Bachchan is the most honoured actor with four awards. Kamal Haasan, Mammootty and Ajay Devgn with three awards, while six actors—Mohanlal, Mithun Chakraborty, Sanjeev Kumar, Om Puri, Naseeruddin Shah and Dhanush—have won the award two times. Two actors have achieved the honour for performing in two languages—Mithun Chakraborty (Hindi and Bengali) and Mammootty (Malayalam and English). The most recent recipient is Rishab Shetty who is honoured at the 70th National Film Awards for his performance in Kantara.

## 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

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) ‡ | Uttam Kumar | Anthony Firingee | Antony Firingee | Bengali |
| 1967 (15th) ‡ | Uttam Kumar | Byomkesh Bakshi | Chiriyakhana | Bengali |
| 1968 (16th) | Ashok Kumar | Shivnath "Joggi Thakur" Choudhary | Aashirwad | Hindi |
| 1969 (17th) | Utpal Dutt | Bhuvan Shome | Bhuvan Shome | Hindi |
| 1970 (18th) | Sanjeev Kumar | Hamid Ahmed | Dastak | Hindi |
| 1971 (19th) | M. G. Ramachandran | Selvam | Rickshawkaran | Tamil |
| 1972 (20th) | Sanjeev Kumar | Hari Charan Mathur | Koshish | Hindi |
| 1973 (21st) | P. J. Antony | Velichapad | Nirmalyam | Malayalam |
| 1974 (22nd) | Sadhu Meher | Kishtayya | Ankur | Hindi |
| 1975 (23rd) | M. V. Vasudeva Rao | Choma | Chomana Dudi | Kannada |
| 1976 (24th) | Mithun Chakraborty | Ghinua | Mrigayaa | Hindi |
| 1977 (25th) | Bharath Gopi | Shankaran Kutty | Kodiyettam | Malayalam |
| 1978 (26th) | Arun Mukherjee | Parasuram | Parasuram | Bengali |
| 1979 (27th) | Naseeruddin Shah | Anirudh Parmar | Sparsh | Hindi |
| 1980 (28th) | Balan K. Nair | Govindan | Oppol | Malayalam |
| 1981 (29th) | Om Puri | Hari Mondal | Arohan | Hindi |
| 1982 (30th) | Kamal Haasan | R. Srinivas (Cheenu) | Moondram Pirai | Tamil |
| 1983 (31st) | Om Puri | Anant Velankar | Ardh Satya | Hindi |
| 1984 (32nd) | Naseeruddin Shah | Naurangia | Paar | Hindi |
| 1985 (33rd) | Shashi Kapoor | Vikas Pande | New Delhi Times | Hindi |
| 1986 (34th) | Charuhasan | Tabara Shetty | Tabarana Kathe | Kannada |
| 1987 (35th) | Kamal Haasan | Sakthivelu Nayakar | Nayakan | Tamil |
| 1988 (36th) | Premji | Raghava Chakyar | Piravi | Malayalam |
| 1989 (37th) ‡ | Mammootty | Vaikom Muhammad Basheer | Mathilukal | Malayalam |
| 1989 (37th) ‡ | Mammootty | Chandu Chekavar | Oru Vadakkan Veeragatha | Malayalam |
| 1990 (38th) | Amitabh Bachchan | Vijay Deenanath Chauhan | Agneepath | Hindi |
| 1991 (39th) | Mohanlal | Kalliyur Gopinathan | Bharatham | Malayalam |
| 1992 (40th) | Mithun Chakraborty | Shibnath | Tahader Katha | Bengali |
| 1993 (41st) ‡ | Mammootty | Ponthan Mada | Ponthan Mada | Malayalam |
| 1993 (41st) ‡ | Mammootty | Bhaskara Patelar | Vidheyan | Malayalam |
| 1994 (42nd) | Nana Patekar | Pratap Narayan Tilak | Krantiveer | Hindi |
| 1995 (43rd) | Rajit Kapur | Mahatma Gandhi | The Making of the Mahatma | English |
| 1996 (44th) | Kamal Haasan | Senapathy (Indian), Chandrabose (Chandru) | Indian | Tamil |
| 1997 (45th) † | Balachandra Menon | Ismail | Samaantharangal | Malayalam |
| 1997 (45th) † | Suresh Gopi | Kannan Perumalayan | Kaliyattam | Malayalam |
| 1998 (46th) † | Ajay Devgn | Ajay R. Desai | Zakhm | Hindi |
| 1998 (46th) † | Mammootty | B. R. Ambedkar | Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar | English |
| 1999 (47th) | Mohanlal | Kunjikuttan | Vanaprastham | Malayalam |
| 2000 (48th) | Anil Kapoor | Major Jaidev Rajvansh | Pukar | Hindi |
| 2001 (49th) | Murali | Appa Mestry | Neythukaran | Malayalam |
| 2002 (50th) | Ajay Devgn | Bhagat Singh | The Legend of Bhagat Singh | Hindi |
| 2003 (51st) | Vikram | Chithan | Pithamagan | Tamil |
| 2004 (52nd) | Saif Ali Khan | Karan Kapoor | Hum Tum | Hindi |
| 2005 (53rd) | Amitabh Bachchan | Debraj Sahai | Black | Hindi |
| 2006 (54th) | Soumitra Chatterjee | Shashanka Palit | Podokkhep | Bengali |
| 2007 (55th) | Prakash Raj | Vengadam | Kanchivaram | Tamil |
| 2008 (56th) | Upendra Limaye | Tayappa | Jogwa | Marathi |
| 2009 (57th) | Amitabh Bachchan | Auro | Paa | Hindi |
| 2010 (58th) † | Dhanush | K. P. Karuppu | Aadukalam | Tamil |
| 2010 (58th) † | Salim Kumar | Abu | Adaminte Makan Abu | Malayalam |
| 2011 (59th) | Girish Kulkarni | Keshya | Deool | Marathi |
| 2012 (60th) † | Irrfan Khan | Paan Singh Tomar | Paan Singh Tomar | Hindi |
| 2012 (60th) † | Vikram Gokhale | Ratnakar | Anumati | Marathi |
| 2013 (61st) † | Rajkummar Rao | Shahid Azmi | Shahid | Hindi |
| 2013 (61st) † | Suraj Venjaramoodu | Father | Perariyathavar | Malayalam |
| 2014 (62nd) | Sanchari Vijay | Madesha (Vidya) | Naanu Avanalla...Avalu | Kannada |
| 2015 (63rd) | Amitabh Bachchan | Bhashkor Banerjee | Piku | Hindi |
| 2016 (64th) | Akshay Kumar | Commander Rustom Pavri | Rustom | Hindi |
| 2017 (65th) | Riddhi Sen | Parimal (Puti) | Nagarkirtan | Bengali |
| 2018 (66th) † | Ayushmann Khurrana | Akash | Andhadhun | Hindi |
| 2018 (66th) † | Vicky Kaushal | Major Vihaan Singh Shergill | Uri: The Surgical Strike | Hindi |
| 2019 (67th) † | Manoj Bajpayee | Ganpath Bhonsle | Bhonsle | Hindi |
| 2019 (67th) † | Dhanush | Sivasaami | Asuran | Tamil |
| 2020 (68th) † | Suriya | Nedumaaran Rajangam (Maara) | Soorarai Pottru | Tamil |
| 2020 (68th) † | Ajay Devgn | Tanaji Malusare | Tanhaji: The Unsung Warrior | Hindi |
| 2021 (69th) | Allu Arjun | Pushpa Raj | Pushpa: The Rise | Telugu |
| 2022 (70th) | Rishab Shetty | Shiva | Kantara | Kannada |

## Footnotes

* ↑ Until 69th National Film Awards (2021), the cash prize is ₹50,000.
* ↑ Denotes The year in which the film was censored by the Central Board of Film Certification.
* ↑ The character played by Kamal Haasan was loosely based on the Mumbai-based Tamil gangster Varadarajan Mudaliar.
* ↑ Mammootty played the real-life character of Vaikom Muhammad Basheer in the film that was based on an autobiographical novel of the same name by Basheer himself .
* ↑ The character remained unnamed throughout the film.
* ↑ Vijay played the character of a transgender.
* ↑ In interviews with The Quint and Hindustan Times, the then-jury chairman Priyadarshan stated that Kumar won the award for Rustom and Airlift, but for technical reasons only one film was mentioned in the list of winners.
* ↑ Sen played the character of a transgender.