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 56 Best Actress awards to 45 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 (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 (22 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.
- 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.
- Bollywood portal
- Film portal
- List of Indian film actresses
- ^ Denotes The year in which the film was censored by the Central Board of Film Certification.
- ^ Cites the recipient and the role played by them in the film.
- ^ Dutt played the role of a woman suffering from multiple personality disorder in the film.
- ^ Tagore performed dual roles in the film.
- ^ Smita played a single character which had two different names.
- ^ Rekha played a single character which had two different names.
- ^ Shobana played the role of a woman suffering from multiple personality disorder in the film.
- ^ The character played by Shabana Azmi was loosely based on the Porbandar-based lady underworld don Santokben Jadeja.
- ^ Chatterjee played a single character which had two different names.
- ^ Balan played a single character which had two different names.
- ^ Ranaut performed dual roles in the film.
- ^ The character remained unnamed throughout the film.
- ^ Sridevi was awarded posthumously.
- ^ Keerthy Suresh played the role based on the life of Indian actress Savitri in the film.
edit
