| National Film Award for Best Screenplay | |
|---|---|
| National award for contributions to Indian Cinema | |
| Awarded for | Best screenplay for a feature film for a year |
| Sponsored by | Directorate of Film Festivals |
| Reward(s) |
|
| First awarded | 1967 (Screenplay Writer (Original)) 2009 (Screenplay Writer (Adapted)) 2009 (Dialogue) |
| Last awarded | 2020 |
| Most recent winner |
(Dialogue) |
| Highlights | |
| Total awarded | 68(Screenplay Writer (Original)) 18(Screenplay Writer (Adapted)) 13(Dialogue) |
| First winner | S. L. Puram Sadanandan |
The National Film Award for Best Screenplay is one of the categories in the National Film Awards presented annually by the Directorate of Film Festivals, the organisation set up by Ministry of Information and Broadcasting in India. It is one of several awards presented for feature films and awarded with Rajat Kamal (Silver Lotus). The award is announced for films produced in a year across the country, in all Indian languages. As of 2016[update], the award comprises a Rajat Kamal, a certificate, and a cash prize of ₹ 50,000.[1]
The National Film Awards were established in 1954 to "encourage production of the films of a high aesthetic and technical standard and educational and culture value" and also planned to include awards for regional films.[2][3] The awards were instituted as the "State Awards for Films" but were renamed to "National Film Awards" at the 15th National Film Awards in 1967 and a new category of award for Best Screenplay was introduced, presented with a plaque and a cash prize.[4] At the 57th National Film Awards in 2009, the Screenplay award was reclassified into three different awards: Screenplay Writer (Original), Screenplay Writer (Adapted), and Dialogues.[5] Although the Indian film industry produces films in around twenty languages and dialects,[6] as of 2016, the seventy-three unique writers who have been awarded, have worked in nine major languages: Hindi (twenty awards), Malayalam (twelve awards), Bengali (eleven awards), Tamil (eight awards), Marathi (seven awards), Kannada (five awards), Telugu (three awards), English (two awards), Sanskrit and Assamese (one award each).
The inaugural award, in 1967, of this category was presented to S. L. Puram Sadanandan for the Malayalam film Agniputhri.[4] No award was presented at the 23rd National Film Awards (1975).[7] As of 2016[update], Malayalam author and screenplay writer M. T. Vasudevan Nair holds the record of winning maximum awards in category with four wins for the films: Oru Vadakkan Veeragadha (1989), Kadavu (1991),[8] Sadayam (1992),[9] and Parinayam (1994).[10] Bengali filmmaker Satyajit Ray was presented the award in 1993 posthumously for the film Uttoran;[11] he had earlier received awards for Pratidwandi (1970) and Sonar Kella (1974).[12][13] At the 59th National Film Awards in 2011, Girish Kulkarni was awarded both the Best Actor and Best Dialogue Awards for the Marathi film Deool. The film was itself was adjudged the Best Feature Film.[14] In 2015 at the 63rd ceremony, the awards for both Original Screenplay and Dialogue were jointly presented to Juhi Chaturvedi and Himanshu Sharma for their films Piku and Tanu Weds Manu: Returns, respectively.[15]
As of 2020[update], sixty-eight awards have been presented for Original Screenplay writing, eighteen for Adapted Screenplay writing, and thirteen for dialogue. The most recent recipients of the awards are Sudha Kongara and Shalini Ushadevi (Screenplay Writer (Original) for Tamil film Soorarai Pottru) and Mandonne Ashwin (Dialogue for another Tamil film Mandela), who were honoured at the 68th National Film Awards.
The first recipient of the award, S. L. Puram Sadanandan, was presented with a plaque and ₹ 5000 cash prize.[4] The award was revised in 1973 at the 21st ceremony to include ₹ 10,000 cash, a silver medal and a certificate. It was shared by Mrinal Sen and Ashish Burman for their Bengali film Padatik.[16] At the 54th awarding ceremony in 2006, the next revision of the award was declared to include cash remuneration of ₹ 50,000 which was presented to Abhijat Joshi, Rajkumar Hirani and Vidhu Vinod Chopra for their Hindi film Lage Raho Munna Bhai in which Mahatma Gandhi's philosophy of non-violence was depicted.[17]
For fourteen times, multiple writers were awarded for their work in a single film; Mrinal Sen and Ashish Burman for Padatik (1973), Satyadev Dubey, Shyam Benegal, and Girish Karnad for Bhumika (1977), T. S. Ranga and T. S. Nagabharana for Grahana (1978), Ashok Mishra and Saeed Akhtar Mirza for Naseem (1995), Manoj Tyagi and Nina Arora for Page 3 (2004), Prakash Jha, Shridhar Raghavan, and Manoj Tyagi for Apaharan (2005), Abhijat Joshi, Rajkumar Hirani, and Vidhu Vinod Chopra for Lage Raho Munna Bhai (2006), Gopal Krishan Pai and Girish Kasaravalli for Kanasemba Kudureyaneri (2009), P. F. Mathews and Harikrishna for Kutty Srank (2009), Anant Mahadevan and Sanjay Pawar for Mee Sindhutai Sapkal (2010), Vikas Bahl, Nitesh Tiwari, and Vijay Maurya for Chillar Party (2011), Bhavesh Mandalia and Umesh Shukla for OMG – Oh My God! (2012), Sriram Raghavan, Arijit Biswas, Yogesh Chandekar, Hemanth Rao, Pooja Ladha Surti for Andhadhun (2018), Sudha Kongara and Shalini Ushadevi for Soorarai Pottru (2020).[citation needed]
Shyamoli Banerjee Deb, one of the jury members at the 53rd National Film Awards, filed a petition objecting to the selections in five awards categories; the Best Feature Film in Hindi, the Best First Film of a Director, the Best Actress, the Best Screenplay, and the Best Special Effects. Deb challenged the decision to confer the award to Prakash Jha, Shridhar Raghavan, and Manoj Tyagi for the Hindi film Apaharan and claimed that the film was not in the primary selection list. The Delhi High Court put a stay on the announcement and requested a reply from the Directorate of Film Festivals.[18] Fourteen months later, Justice B. D. Ahmed removed the stay and the award was announced for Apaharan.[19][20][21]
Following are the award winners over the years:
| Awards legends | |
|---|---|
| Screenplay Writer (Original) | |
| Screenplay Writer (Adapted) | |
| Dialogue | |
| List of award recipients, showing the year (award ceremony), film(s), language(s) and citation | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Year | Recipient(s) | Film(s) | Language(s) | Citation | Refs. |
| 1967 (15th) |
S. L. Puram Sadanandan | Agniputhri | Malayalam | – | [4] |
| 1968 (16th) |
Pandit Anand Kumar | Anokhi Raat | Hindi | – | [22] |
| 1969 (17th) |
Puttanna Kanagal | Gejje Pooje | Kannada | – | [23] |
| 1970 (18th) |
Satyajit Ray | Pratidwandi | Bengali | – | [12] |
| 1971 (19th) |
Tapan Sinha | Ekhonee | Bengali | – | [24] |
| 1972 (20th) |
Gulzar | Koshish | Hindi | – | [25] |
| 1973 (21st) |
Mrinal Sen | Padatik | Bengali | – | [16] |
| Ashish Burman | |||||
| 1974 (22nd) |
Satyajit Ray | Sonar Kella | Bengali | – | [13] |
| 1975 (23rd) |
No Award | [7] | |||
| 1976 (24th) |
Vijay Tendulkar | Manthan | Hindi | – | [26] |
| 1977 (25th) |
Satyadev Dubey | Bhumika | Hindi |
For powerfully recreating the biography of an actress, for its rare, psychological insights and understanding of human relationships, for the complex integration of theme, style and dramatic situation into an engrossing whole, which provokes the spectator into a new awareness of the predicament of the working woman in Indian society.
|
[27] |
| Shyam Benegal | |||||
| Girish Karnad | |||||
| 1978 (26th) |
T. S. Ranga | Grahana | Kannada |
For Maintaining taunt narrative line without resorting to melodrama and retaining a film grip on the central idea in an action packed film.
|
[28] |
| T. S. Nagabharana | |||||
| 1979 (27th) |
Sai Paranjpye | Sparsh | Hindi | – | [29] |
| 1980 (28th) |
Mrinal Sen | Akaler Sandhane | Bengali |
For effectively combining the terse and pithy dialogue with creation of well-defined, lively characters to convey a poignant story which leaves a lasting impression.
|
[30] |
| 1981 (29th) |
K. Balachander | Thanneer Thanneer | Tamil |
For translating the suffering of the people in drought-affected areas into a gripping visual narrative.
|
[31] |
| 1982 (30th) |
Mrinal Sen | Kharij | Bengali |
For its economy of expression in the treatment of a sensitive theme.
|
[32] |
| 1983 (31st) |
G. V. Iyer | Adi Shankaracharya | Sanskrit |
For its rich texture, lyricism and cinematic elegance in its presentation of Shankaracharya as an embodiment of greatness.
|
[33] |
| 1984 (32nd) |
Adoor Gopalakrishnan | Mukhamukham | Malayalam | – | [34] |
| 1985 (33rd) |
Bhabendra Nath Saikia | Agnisnaan | Assamese |
For the powerful rendering of the saga of a woman who goes through the revolution against the prevailing social mores and comes to terms with herself.
|
[35] |
| 1986 (34th) |
Buddhadeb Dasgupta | Phera | Bengali |
For its penetrative and sensitive screenplay depicting the trauma faced by an artist in search of his identity in relation to his professional and personal life.
|
[36] |
| 1987 (35th) |
Adoor Gopalakrishnan | Anantaram | Malayalam |
For the precision in structuring a very complex narrative content requiring both exceptional dramatic and literary skills.
|
[37] |
| 1988 (36th) |
Arundhati Roy | In Which Annie Gives It Those Ones | English |
For capturing the anguish prevailing among students of professional institutions.
|
[38] |
| 1989 (37th) |
M. T. Vasudevan Nair | Oru Vadakkan Veeragatha | Malayalam |
For the gripping plot, clearly etched characterisations and the brilliant portrayal of life in Kerala a few hundred years ago.
|
[39] |
| 1990 (38th) |
K. S. Sethumadhavan | Marupakkam | Tamil |
For depicting a simplistic story, capturing the various levels of philosophy, psychology, tradition and relationships perfectly.
|
[40] |
| 1991 (39th) |
M. T. Vasudevan Nair | Kadavu | Malayalam |
For its sensitive and poetic treatment of disillusionment of an underprivileged adolescent.
|
[8] |
| 1992 (40th) |
M. T. Vasudevan Nair | Sadayam | Malayalam |
For an extremely well structured script.
|
[9] |
| 1993 (41st) |
Satyajit Ray (Posthumously) |
Uttoran | Bengali |
For designing and structuring a screenplay from an imaginative and aesthetic angle, with a superb control over the unity of impressions.
|
[11] |
| 1994 (42nd) |
M. T. Vasudevan Nair | Parinayam | Malayalam |
For his masterly use of fiction in cinema, reconstructing pre-1940s Kerala through sharply defined characters and remarkable control over dialogue.
|
[10] |
| 1995 (43rd) |
Ashok Mishra | Naseem | Hindi |
For their masterly and sensitive visual narration of a volatile and confused situation of the year 1992 in India with great depth and simplicity of words.
|
[41] |
| Saeed Akhtar Mirza | |||||
| 1996 (44th) |
Agathiyan | Kadhal Kottai | Tamil |
For tightly knit and smooth flowing plot with excellent dialogues and razor-sharp tuning.
|
[42] |
| 1997 (45th) |
Rituparno Ghosh | Dahan | Bengali |
For tactfully crafting a sensitive theme that dwells upon an incident which raises issues of social responsibility and personal awareness.
|
[43] |
| 1998 (46th) |
Ashok Mishra | Samar | Hindi |
For Hindi film Samar where he has used a unique structure to ekplore the complek contradictions of urban/rural, rich/poor, pcwerful/dcwntrodden in a simple story line laced with poignant Moments of humour and irony for a perceptive insight into contemporary indian life.
|
[44] |
| 1999 (47th) |
Madampu Kunjukuttan | Karunam | Malayalam |
For expressing with extreme economy and skilful cinematic treatment a story based on a sensitive screenplay woven around an old couple.
|
[45] |
| 2000 (48th) |
Bharathiraja | Kadal Pookkal | Tamil |
For focusing, in present times of degeneration, on love, sacrifice and family values.
|
[46] |
| 2001 (49th) |
G. Neelakanta Reddy | Show | Telugu |
For the film, which seems to probes a real – unreal dramatic situation involving two characters full of emotion and conflicts, with a rare touch of artistic sensitivity.
|
[47] |
| 2002 (50th) |
Aparna Sen | Mr. and Mrs. Iyer | English |
For its fluid narration of the nuances of an ambiguous relationship in troubled times.
|
[48] |
| 2003 (51st) |
Gautam Ghose | Abar Aranye | Bengali |
For weaving together the strands of time creating a resonant dialogue between the past and the present.
|
[49] |
| 2004 (52nd) |
Manoj Tyagi | Page 3 | Hindi |
For telling a complex story in a stunningly simple manner. It takes you into the empty shallow world of Page 3, in a manner which is funny yet deeply empathetic.
|
[50] |
| Nina Arora | |||||
| 2005 (53rd) |
Prakash Jha | Apaharan | Hindi |
For creating a crisp screenplay that is riveting and renders pace to the entire film.
|
[19] |
| Shridhar Raghavan | |||||
| Manoj Tyagi | |||||
| 2006 (54th) |
Abhijat Joshi | Lage Raho Munnabhai | Hindi |
For the original vision with which Gandhi's philosophy of non-violence is given life in popular parlance.
|
[17] |
| Rajkumar Hirani | |||||
| Vidhu Vinod Chopra | |||||
| 2007 (55th) |
Feroz Abbas Khan | Gandhi, My Father | Hindi |
For the imaginative and emotional handling of uncompromisingly steadfast side of the Father of the Nation with special reference to his relationship with his troublesome son.
|
[51] |
| 2008 (56th) |
Sachin Kundalkar | Gandha | Marathi |
For its remarkable integration of three different plots using the sense of smell at as a liet motif to focus sensitively on human relationships.
|
[52] |
| 2009 (57th) |
P. F. Mathews | Kutty Srank | Malayalam |
For the mysterious narrative that weaves together multiple perspectives to create a coherent whole, and yet leaves a haunting ambiguity.
|
[5] |
| Harikrishna | |||||
| Gopalakrishna Pai | Kanasemba Kudureyaneri | Kannada |
For linking the theme of death and its inevitability through a narrative style that presents two versions of the same event, not necessarily in chronological order.
| ||
| Girish Kasaravalli | |||||
| Pandiraj | Pasanga | Tamil |
For the conversational quality with its cutting edge wit and life like freshness.
| ||
| 2010 (58th) |
Vetrimaaran | Aadukalam | Tamil |
For its kaleidoscopic variety that uses realism, tradition and contemporaneity, soaked in local flavour on an infinite canvas.
|
[53] |
| Anant Mahadevan | Mee Sindhutai Sapkal | Marathi |
For retaining the concerns and values of a biographical account while translating it into the cinematic medium and honouring the essence of the original.
| ||
| Sanjay Pawar | |||||
| Sanjay Pawar | Mee Sindhutai Sapkal | Marathi |
For bringing to life the textures of various characters through articulating their emotion and thought process.
| ||
| 2011 (59th) |
Vikas Bahl | Chillar Party | Hindi |
For a charming and utterly professional construct of an engaging middle class urban narrative that neatly delivers the values of compassion, friendship, loyalty, commitment and imagination in the world of children. They use familiar spaces, characters and situations to create an entertaining and surprising fabric of a caring society that still believes in what is good and right.
|
[14] |
| Nitesh Tiwari | |||||
| Vijay Maurya | |||||
| Avinash Deshpande Nigdi | Shala | Marathi |
For the cinematic adaptation of a literary work that encompasses several issues and characters is always a challenging task. He skilfully transforms the descriptive power of the literary text into a cinematic narrative of layered and tender moments. Despite a range of characters and subplots, the screenplay engagingly links the lives of its teenage protagonists to the repressive context of the National Emergency.
| ||
| Girish Kulkarni | Deool | Marathi |
For its immensely varied and textured use of language that is both an authentic and an energetic reflection of the different sections of life shown in the film: the language of the village, of politicians, of the scholar and much else. His dialogues – robustly rustic yet influenced by urban vocabulary – is characteristic of the Indian scene today.
| ||
| 2012 (60th) |
Sujoy Ghosh | Kahaani | Hindi |
A well structured screenplay that formed the heart of an edge of the seat suspense film.
|
[54] |
| Bhavesh Mandalia | OMG - Oh My God! | Hindi |
A carefully crafted screenplay dealing with a social satire with shades of oriental philosophy.
| ||
| Umesh Shukla | |||||
| Anjali Menon | Ustad Hotel | Malayalam |
Easy flowing, yet down to earth dialogues complement the well mounted entertainer with a social message.
| ||
| 2013 (61st) |
P. Sheshadri | December-1 | Kannada |
For its kaleidoscopic variety that uses realism and colloquialism that is soaked in a contemporary flavour.
|
[55] |
| Panchakshari | Prakruti | Kannada |
For retaining the concerns and values of an original work by a celebrated author while adapting it into the cinematic idiom.
| ||
| Sumitra Bhave | Astu | Marathi |
For an extraordinary blend in language and conversations that cover philosophy day-to-day anxieties and emotions in a most compelling manner.
| ||
| 2014 (62nd) |
Srijit Mukherji | Chotushkone | Bengali |
Chotushkone for the masterful telling of a taut suspense thriller which weaves a sinister web around the journey and lives of four egotistical characters.
|
[56] |
| Joshy Mangalath | Ottaal | Malayalam |
Ottal for beautifully transposing Anton Chekov’s short story onto a canvas of nature that enhances the shades of the original.
| ||
| Vishal Bhardwaj | Haider | Hindi |
Haider for the multi layered and resonant dialogues that evoke angst and passion with crispness and brevity.
| ||
| 2015 (63rd) |
Juhi Chaturvedi | Piku | Hindi |
For effortless movement of the plot structure, and natural repartees which happens in a delightful love/ hate relationship of a father and daughter.
|
|
| Himanshu Sharma | Tanu Weds Manu: Returns | Hindi |
For The writer's interpretation of love story set in a small town, becomes populated with interesting characters and their dialogues and dialects.
|
||
| Vishal Bhardwaj | Talvar | Hindi |
For the dramatic structure devised by this writer effectively mirrors the tragedy of a family when their daughter is found murdered.
|
||
| Juhi Chaturvedi | Piku | Hindi |
For effortless movement of the plot structure, and natural repartees which happens in a delightful love/ hate relationship of a father and daughter.
|
||
| Himanshu Sharma | Tanu Weds Manu: Returns | Hindi |
For The writer's interpretation of love story set in a small town, becomes populated with interesting characters and their dialogues and dialects.
|
||
| 2016 (64th) |
Syam Pushkaran | Maheshinte Prathikaaram | Malayalam |
The screenplay interweaves the various idiosyncrasy of a small town near Idukki river.
|
[1] |
| Sanjay Krishnaji Patil | Dashkriya | Marathi |
The film brings out a semblance of 'time' and 'place' specified in the novel by Baba Bhand.
| ||
| Tharun Bhascker Dhaassyam | Pelli Choopulu | Telugu |
The film has incorporated a Modern, Witty and 'on-your-face' dialogue that too with the local flavor.
| ||
| 2017 (65th) |
Sajeev Pazhoor | Thondimuthalum Driksakshiyum | Malayalam | [57] | |
| Jayaraj | Bhayanakam | Malayalam | |||
| Sambit Mohanty (posthumously) |
Hello Arsi | Oriya | |||
| 2018 (66th) |
Rahul Ravindran | Chi La Sow | Telugu |
The screenplay is modern take on the traditional custom of arranged marriage.
|
|
| Sriram Raghavan | Andhadhun | Hindi |
Crisp and intriguing story that keeps the audiences on tenterhooks.
|
[58] | |
| Arijit Biswas | |||||
| Yogesh Chedekar | |||||
| Hemanth Rao | |||||
| Pooja Ladha Surti | |||||
| Churni Ganguly | Tarikh | Bengali |
Deep meaningful conversations that explore interpersonal relationships.
| ||
| 2019 (67th) |
Kaushik Ganguly | Jyeshthoputro | Bengali |
For capturing the complexities of human relationships in a broken family slowly unraveling the jealousies and insecurities within the family in an unhurried pace keeping the audience intrigued.
|
[59] |
| Srijit Mukherji | Gumnaami | Bengali |
Intricately woven screenplay that went through a series and layers of interviews & incidents unfolding the mystery surrounding the controversial disappearance & death of Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose.
| ||
| Vivek Ranjan Agnihotri | The Tashkent Files | Hindi |
For writing apt dialogues for convincing arguments of members of the committee that was formed to find out the facts about the mysterious death of Sri Lal Bahadur Shastri.
| ||
| 2020 (68th) |
Sudha Kongara | Soorarai Pottru | Tamil |
For the construction of an engrossing screenplay that weaves through the ups and downs of the character of the protagonist.
|
|
| Shalini Ushadevi | |||||
| Madonne Ashwin | Mandela | Tamil |
For using crispy dialogues filled with wit and humour to bring alive the subliminal comic fervour to the fore.
| ||
| 2021 (69th) |
Shahi Kabir | Nayattu | Malayalam | – | |
| Sanjay Leela Bhansali | Gangubai Kathiawadi | Hindi | – | ||
| Utkarshini Vashishtha | |||||
| Utkarshini Vashishtha | Gangubai Kathiawadi | Hindi | – | ||
| Prakash Kapadia | |||||
|
| |||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| |||||||||||||||||||
| Lifetime Achievement |
| ||||||||||||||||||
| Feature Films |
| ||||||||||||||||||
| Non-Feature Films |
| ||||||||||||||||||
| Writing on Cinema |
| ||||||||||||||||||
| Awards by year |
| ||||||||||||||||||
