National Film Award – Special Jury Award (feature film)

For Special Mention for feature films, see National Film Award – Special Mention (feature film).

National Film Award – Special Jury Award
National award for contributions to Indian Cinema
Sponsored by	Directorate of Film Festivals
Formerly called	Special Commendation (1978)
Reward(s)	Rajat Kamal (Silver Lotus) ₹200,000 (US$2,400)
First awarded	1978
Last awarded	2021
Most recent winner	Shershaah (2021)
Highlights
Total awarded	50
First winner	Acharya Kripalani

The National Film Award – Special Jury Award 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 feature films. The recipients of Special Jury Award are awarded with Rajat Kamal (Silver Lotus), cash prize of ₹200,000 (US$2,400) and certificate of merit.

The award was instituted in 1978, at 26th National Film Awards and awarded annually for films produced in the year across the country, in all Indian languages. This award considers all the aspects of film making than individual area. At the 70th National Film Awards, the award was discontinued.

Winners

List of award recipients, showing the year (award ceremony), awarded as, film(s), language(s) and citation
Year	Recipient(s)	Awarded as	Film(s)	Language(s)	Citation	Refs.
1978 (26th)	No award
1979 (27th)	–	Director	Acharya Kripalani	English	–
1980 (28th)	No award
1981 (29th)	Satyajit Ray	Director	Sadgati	Hindi	For making the strongest of comments in the simplest of languages on the caste system and for probing the complex relationship between a downtrodden tanner and a callous Brahmin priest in a village.
1982 (30th)	No award
1983 (31st)	Mankada Ravi Varma	Director	Nokkukuthi	Malayalam	For successfully using a unique idiom to recreate a folk legend through dance and poetry.
1984 (32nd)	T. S. Ranga	Director	Giddh	Hindi	–
1985 (33rd)	Sudha Chandran	Actress	Mayuri	Telugu	For her work in the film in which, in her first screen appearance, she convincingly recreates her own life-story with courage and determination.
1986 (34th)	John Abraham	Director	Amma Ariyan	Malayalam	For his directorial excellence and originality in the treatment.
1987 (35th)	M. B. Sreenivasan (posthumously)	Music director	–	–	For his contribution to a whole genre of film music, for promoting the welfare of technicians of all disciplines in the film industry and for pioneering choral music of a very high order and community singing on a national scale.
1988 (36th)	Ashok Ahuja	Director	Vasundhara	Hindi	For the sensitive and compulsive evolution of the much needed love for the eco-system and for defining the role of humanity in saving mankind and nature from devastation.
1989 (37th)	Amitabh Chakraborty	Director	Kaal Abhirati	Bengali	For having had the courage of his convictions in making this experimental film which sets out to explore new horizons in the realm of film making.
1990 (38th)	Pankaj Kapur	Actor	Ek Doctor Ki Maut	Hindi	For having effectively projected the in-built trauma of an aspiring, thinking, creative mind, in the context of a demoralising, fossilised system of establishment that does not provide scope for fruitation of a path-finding spirit.
	Sunny Deol	Actor	Ghayal	Hindi	For an effective portrayal of a youth, victimised by the inherent evil in aspects of the present police system.
	Jayabharathi	Actress	Marupakkam	Tamil	For a touching portrayal of the agony of a woman who has been emotionally neglected, unwittingly.
1991 (39th)	Soumitra Chatterjee	Actor	Antardhan	Bengali	For his outstanding screen performances, especially in the films of Satyajit Ray.
1992 (40th)	Sivaji Ganesan	Actor	Thevar Magan	Tamil	–
	Ketan Mehta	Director	Maya Memsaab	Hindi	–
1993 (41st)	Shashi Kapoor	Actor	Muhafiz	Urdu	For a sensitive portrayal of the feeling of the poet, who is a representative of a dying humanistic culture, in course of which the life of imagination is undermined by the pressure of materialistic values.
	Pallavi Joshi	Actress	Woh Chokri	Hindi	For enacting competently and realistically, a whole gamut of experiences and emotions, embracing a women's life from childhood to adulthood.
1994 (42nd)	Radhu Karmakar (posthumously)	Cinematographer	Param Vir Chakra	Hindi	In appreciation of a lifetime achievement in creating some of the most memorable moments in Indian film history.
	Shaji N. Karun	Director	Swaham	Malayalam	For one of the most outstanding directors of Indian cinema, for sensitively probing the vacuum created in a family, when its central pivot is lost in death.
1995 (43rd)	Shyam Benegal	Director	The Making of the Mahatma	English	For effectively recreating the formative years of Gandhi during his early years in South Africa thereby giving insight into the future "Mahatma".
1996 (44th)	Amol Palekar	Director	Daayraa	Hindi	For the sensitive handling of a challenging theme laying bare the agony and courage of a neglected and marginalised section of our society.
	Kiron Kher	Actress	Sardari Begum	Urdu	For superb depiction of a dynamic person who breaks shackles of society and achieves excellence in her chosen profession.
1997 (45th)	Jaimala	Actress	Thaayi Saheba	Kannada	For her restrained and compellig portrayal of a woman who silently goes through the journey of life with grace and poise.
1998 (46th)	• Drishyakavya  • Ashoke Viswanathan	• Producer  • Director	Kitchhu Sanlap Kitchhu Pralap	Bengali	The film is extra-ordinary in its experimental effort and works as a satire on our value system dominated by the pseudo intellectuals.
1999 (47th)	Kalabhavan Mani	Actor	Vasanthiyum Lakshmiyum Pinne Njaanum	Malayalam	For a sensitive and realistic portrayal of a blind man complete with his behavioural and gestural distortions as he copes with difficulties in making life meaningful.
2000 (48th)	Soumitra Chatterjee	Actor	Dekha	Bengali	For his realistic portrayal of the scion of a fading aristocracy who has lost his eyesight. Soumitra with great subtlety takes us through myriad evoking situations of his life, past and present with great sensitivity.
2001 (49th)	Janaki Vishwanathan	Director	Kutty	Tamil	For its realistic portrayal of the transition of a girl child from rural Tamilnadu to Chennai, in search of a livelihood. The film sensitises its viewers to the exploitation of child domestic labour, commonly prevalent within middle class families.
2002 (50th)	Prakash Raj	Actor	Dhaya	Tamil	For the impressive power and versatility, which he has contributed to films in multiple languages.
2003 (51st)	Manoj Bajpai	Actor	Pinjar	Hindi	For his portrayal of the dilemma of a man caught between the dictates of his community and his love for his wife.
	• Roopkatha  • Goutam Halder	• Producer  • Director	Bhalo Theko	Bengali	For its quiet but masterful foray into the new cinematic idioms.
2004 (52nd)	J. Phillip	Actor	Dancer	Tamil	For his incredible acting and dance performance despite being a physically challenged person.
2005 (53rd)	Anupam Kher	Actor	Maine Gandhi Ko Nahin Mara	Hindi	For an outstanding performance in the film that brings alive the plight of an Alzheimer’s patient who is alienated from the real world.
2006 (54th)	Vishal Bhardwaj	Director	Omkara	Hindi	For an outstanding film that synergises international treatment with an earthy, rooted sensibility.
2007 (55th)	• Anil Kapoor  • Feroz Abbas Khan	• Producer  • Director	Gandhi, My Father	• Hindi  • English	For throwing light on a relatively unknown aspect of the Father of the Nation and his stormy relationship with his difficult rebellious son, in a rare and compelling manner.
2008 (56th)	• NFDC  • K. M. Madhusudhanan	• Producer  • Director	Bioscope	Malayalam	For its exciting revival of a sincerely personal style to look back on a chapter of history.
2009 (57th)	A. Sreekar Prasad	Editor	• Kaminey  • Keralavarma Pazhassiraja  • Kutty Srank	• Hindi  • Malayalam  • Malayalam	For his continued pursuance of excellence to the art and craft of editing, covering a range of themes and styles.
2010 (58th)	• Bindiya Khanolkar  • Sachin Khanolkar  • Anant Mahadevan	• Producer  • Producer  • Director	Mee Sindhutai Sapkal	Marathi	For a powerful cinematic presentation of an epic journey of a living character, an abandoned woman who refused to become a victim and in the process not only transformed her own life but also the lives of many others.
2011 (59th)	Anjan Dutt	• Actor  • Director  • Singer  • Writer	Ranjana Ami Ar Ashbona	Bengali	For his versatility. He is an actor, singer, writer and director. As actor, he has portrayed with complete ease the alcoholic, debauched and ageing pop singer whose arrogance blinds him to the fine feelings of others. The stage performance at the beginning establishes his multi dimensional abilities. Finally as a director, Dutt imbues the film with a surrealistic look of a world of dreams, drugs and irresponsibility. His performance is a cry from the heart for a lost age and a reconciliation with an emergent new angst.
2012 (60th)	Rituparno Ghosh	• Actor  • Director  • Writer	Chitrangada	Bengali	For his excellent grasp of the medium of cinema and his multi-faceted versatility.
	Nawazuddin Siddiqui	Actor	• Dekh Indian Circus  • Gangs of Wasseypur  • Kahaani  • Talaash	Hindi	An actor with an enviable range of histrionics who created a niche for himself in a variety of films.
2013 (61st)	• Viva in En  • Mahesh Limaye	• Producer  • Director	Yellow	Marathi	An unbelievably inspiring film about a specially gifted girl who overcomes all the odds to make an international mark.
	• Future East Film Pvt Ltd  • Ashim Ahluwalia	• Producer  • Director	Miss Lovely	Hindi	Set in the criminal depths of Mumbai’s c-grade film industry, bathed in sleaze and sex, the plot explores intense and mutually destructive relationships. A densely layered narrative, period costumes and production design conveys a pulp style, all its own.
2014 (62nd)	Bhaurao Karhade	Director	Khwada	Marathi	For a hard-hitting but restrained narration of the harsh realities of a nomadic shepherd community who are in search of stability.
2015 (63rd)	Kalki Koechlin	Actress	Margarita with a Straw	Hindi	For the realistic performance as a young woman afflicted with cerebral palsy.
2016 (64th)	Mohanlal	Actor	• Janatha Garage  • Munthirivallikal Thalirkkumbol  • Pulimurugan	• Telugu  • Malayalam  • Malayalam	For his mastery in dealing with characters of various shades with unparallel acting brilliance.
2017 (65th)	• Sani Ghose Ray  • Kaushik Ganguly	• Producer  • Director	Nagarkirtan	Bengali	–
2018 (66th)	• Shraddha Dangar  • Shachi Joshi  • Denisha Ghumra  • Niilam Paanchal  • Tarjani Bhadla  • Brinda Nayak  • Tejal Panchasara  • Kaushambi Bhatt  • Ekta Bachwani  • Kamini Panchal  • Jagruti Thakore  • Riddhi Yadav  • Prapti Mehta	Actresses	Hellaro	Gujarati	For the ability of a group of rural women characters, acting as a unit, to bring about social transformation while taking the audience through an emotional catharsis.
	Indradip Dasgupta	Director	Kedara	Bengali	For using a range of Cinematic Techniques and Methodology to explore one single main character in a limited space.
2019 (67th)	R. Parthiban	• Actor  • Director  • Producer  • Writer	Oththa Seruppu Size 7	Tamil	For telling the story innovatively about the confessions of a poor man's crime. It elaborates through his enactment and a well designed sound and voices which we do not see on the screen.
2020 (68th)	Ojaswee Sharma	Director	Admitted	• Hindi  • English
2021 (69th)	• Vishnuvardhan  • Karan Johar  • Dharma Productions	• Director  • Producer	Shershaah	Hindi	The story of a young soldier on the border who sacrifices his life for the integrity of the nation.

See also

• National Film Award – Special Mention

External links

• Official Page for Directorate of Film Festivals, India
• National Film Awards Archives
• National Film Awards at IMDb