The National Film Award (Golden Lotus Award) for Best Film winners:
Year Film Language Director
2005 Page 3 Hindi/English Madhur Bhandarkar
2004 Shwaas Marathi Sandeep Sawant
2003 Mondo Meyer Upakhyan Bengali Budhdhadeb Dasgupta
2002 Dweepa Kannada Girish Kasaravalli
2001 Shantam Malayalam Jayaraaj
2000 Vaanaprastham Malayalam (France/India/Germany Shaji N. Karun
1999 Samar Hindi Shyam Benegal
1998 Thaayi Saheba Kannada Girish Kasaravalli
1997 Lal Darja Bengali Budhdhadeb Dasgupta
1996 Kathapurushan Malayalam (India/Japan Adoor Gopalakrishnan
1995 Unishe April Bengali Rituparno Ghosh
1994 Charachar Bengali Budhdhadeb Dasgupta
1993 Bhagwat Geeta Sanskrit G V Iyer
1992 Agantuk Bengali (France/India Satyajit Ray
1991 Marupakkam Tamil K.S. Sethumadhavan
1990 Bagh Bahadur Hindi/Bengali Budhdhadeb Dasgupta
1989 Piravi Malayalam Shaji N. Karun
1988 Halodhia Choraye Baodhan Khai Assamese Jahnu Barua
1987 Tabarana Kathe Kannada Girish Kasaravalli
1986 Chidambaram Malayalam Govindan Aravindan
1985 Damul Hindi Prakash Jha
1984 Adi Shankaracharya Sanskrit G V Iyer
1983 Chokh Bengali Utpalendu Chakrabarty
1982 Dakhal Bengali Gautam Ghose
1981 Akaler Sandhane Bengali Mrinal Sen
1980 Shodh Hindi Biplab Roy Choudhary
1979 no award -
1978 Ghatashraddha Kannada Girish Kasaravalli
1977 Mrigayaa Hindi Mrinal Sen
1976 Chomana Dudi Kannada B.V. Karanth
1975 Chorus Hindi/Bengali Mrinal Sen
1974 Nirmalyam Malayalam M.T. Vasudevan Nair
1973 Swayamvaram Malayalam Adoor Gopalakrishnan
1972 Seemabaddha Bengali Satyajit Ray
1971 Samskara Kannada Pattabhi Rama Reddy
1970 Bhuvan Shome Hindi Mrinal Sen
1969 Goopy Gyne Bagha Byne Bengali Satyajit Ray
1968 Hatey Bazarey Bengali/Hindi Tapan Sinha
1967 Teesri Kasam Hindi Basu Battacharya
1966 Chemmeen Malayalam Ramu Kariat
1965 Charulata Bengali Satyajit Ray
1964 Shehar Aur Sapna Hindi Khwaja Ahmad Abbas
1963 Dada Thakur Bengali Sudhir Mukherjee
1962 Bhagini Nivedita Bengali Bijoy Bose
1961 Anuradha Hindi Hrishikesh Mukherjee
1960 Apur Sansar Bengali Satyajit Ray
1959 Sagar Sangamey Bengali Debaki Bose
1958 Do Aankhen Barah Haath Hindi V. Shantaram
1957 Kabuliwala Bengali Tapan Sinha
1956 Pather Panchali Bengali Satyajit Ray
1955 Mirza Ghalib Hindi Sohrab Modi
1954 Shyamchi Aai Marathi P.K.Atre
