The National Film Awards are presented every year by the National Film Development Corporation of India. Following is the list of discontinued and intermittent National Film Awards. Throughout the year various awards have been discontinued and given intermittently. The awards, instituted 1953, on the 40th anniversary of Indian Cinema, are given for feature films, non-feature films and best writing on cinema, and were once officially known as the State Awards for Films. In addition to the regular National Film Awards, several discontinued and Intermittent National Film Awards have been presented throughout the years.
Discontinued Feature film award categories
Following are the discontinued National Film Awards from feature films category:
All India Certificate of Merit It was instituted in 1954 and awarded at 1st National Film Awards and was lastly awarded in 1957 at 4th National Film Awards. It was given along with National Film Award for Best Feature Film and two films per year were awarded with this award.
List of films, showing the year (award ceremony), language(s), producer(s) and director(s) Year Film(s) Language(s) Producer(s) Director(s) 1953 Do Bigha Zamin Hindi Bimal Roy Bimal Roy Bhagavan Sri Krishna Chaitanya Bengali Debaki Bose Debaki Bose 1954 Neelakuyil Malayalam Chandrathara Productions P. BhaskaranRamu Kariat Biraj Bahu Hindi Hiten Chaudhary Productions Bimal Roy 1955 Jhanak Jhanak Payal Baaje Hindi Rajkamal Kalamandir V. Shantaram Shirdi Che Sai Baba Marathi Nandadeep Chitra Kumarsen Samarth 1956 Bandhan Hindi Sircar Productions Hem Chunder Tenali Ramakrishna Telugu Vikram Productions B. S. Ranga 1957 Mother India Hindi Mehboob Productions Mehboob Khan
Second Best Feature Film
Third Best Feature Film It was instituted in 1958 and awarded at 6th National Film Awards and lastly awarded in 1965 at 13th National Film Awards and discontinued after that.
List of films, showing the year (award ceremony), language(s), producer(s) and director(s) Year Film(s) Language(s) Producer(s) Director(s) 1958 School Master Kannada B. R. Panthulu B. R. Panthulu 1959 Sujata Hindi Bimal Roy Bimal Roy 1960 Deivapiravi Tamil Kamal Brothers Pvt Ltd R. KrishnanS. Panju 1961 Prapanch Marathi Indian National Pictures Madhukar Pathak 1962 Sautela Bhai Hindi Alok Bharati Mahesh Kaul 1963 Mahanagar Bengali R. D. Bansal Satyajit Ray 1964 Unnaipol Oruvan Tamil Aasiya Jyothi films D. Jayakanthan 1965 Chhoti Chhoti Baten Hindi Rajvanshi Productions Motilal Rajvansh
Best Feature Film on National Integration
Best Film on Environment Conservation / Preservation
Best Film on Other Social Issues
Best Film on Family Welfare
Best Animated Film
Best Special Effects
Special Jury Award
Best Story It was instituted in 1962 and awarded at 10th National Film Awards and lastly awarded in 1975 at 23rd National Film Awards and discontinued after that. In the first year, for the 10th National Film Awards, award winners were awarded only with Certificate of Merit. Later on, all the award winners were awarded with Silver Lotus and cash prize of 10,000.
List of award recipients, showing the year (award ceremony), film(s) and language(s) Year Recipient(s) Film(s) Language(s) 1962 Not Available Four Centuries Ago English 1964 Balai Chand Mukhopadhyay Aarohi Bengali 1965 Motilal Chhoti Chhoti Baten Hindi B. K. Dutt Shaheed HindiDin Dayal Sharma 1973 Ismat ChughtaiGarm Hava Hindi Kaifi Azmi 1974 Ritwik Ghatak Jukti Takko Aar Gappo Bengali 1975 K. Shivaram Karanth Chomana Dudi Kannada
Best Film Based on High Literary Work It was instituted in 1966 and awarded only at 14th National Film Awards.
List of films, showing the year (award ceremony), language(s), producer(s) and director(s) Year Film(s) Language(s) Producer(s) Director(s) 1966 Chutti Bengali Arundhati Devi Arundhati Devi
Discontinued Non-feature film award categories Following are the discontinued National Film Awards from non-feature films category:
Best Agriculture Film
Best Anthropological/Ethnographic Film
Best Biographical Film
Best Educational/Motivational/Instructional Film
Best Environment/Conservation/Preservation Film
Best Exploration/Adventure Film
Best Family Welfare Film
Best Historical Reconstruction/Compilation Film
Best Investigative Film
Best Promotional Film
Best Scientific Film
Best Film on Social Issues
Special Jury Award
Best Experimental Film It was instituted in 1966 and awarded at 14th National Film Awards and lastly awarded in 1983 at 31st National Film Awards and discontinued after that.
List of films, showing the year (award ceremony), language(s), producer(s) and director(s) Year Film(s) Language(s) Producer(s) Director(s) 1966 Homosaps English 1967 Through the Eyes of a Painter English J. S. Bhownagary Films Division M. F. Husain (as a Creator) 1968 And I Make Short Films English K. L. Khandpur Films Division S. N. S. Sastry 1969 No Award 1970 No Award 1971 No Award 1972 No Award 1973 Homi Bhabha — A Scientist in Action English Jagat Murari Viswanathan K 1974 No Award 1975 Awashesh Hindi FTII K. G. Girish 1976 Murder at Monkey Hill Hindi FTII Vidhu Vinod Chopra 1977 Samadhi Music only FTII John Sankaramangalam 1978 No Award 1979 Child On a Chess Board Music only Films Division Vijay B Chandra 1980 Arrival English Films Division Mani Kaul 1981 No Award 1982 Chakkar Chandu Ka Chameliwala Hindi FTII N. C. Thade 1983 The Clown and The Dog English FTII Sunny Joseph, Archived on 1 September 2025
Best Filmstrip It was instituted in 1963 and awarded only at 11th National Film Awards.
List of films, showing the year (award ceremony), language(s), producer(s) and director(s) Year Film(s) Language(s) Producer(s) Director(s) 1963 Historical Monuments of Delhi Hindi G. K. Athalye G. K. Athalye
Best Industrial Film It was instituted in 1984 and awarded at 32nd National Film Awards and lastly awarded in 1988 at 36th National Film Awards and discontinued after that.
List of films, showing the year (award ceremony), language(s), producer(s) and director(s) Year Film(s) Language(s) Producer(s) Director(s) 1984 Krishi Jantrapati Hindi Ghanashyam Mahapatra Ghanashyam Mahapatra 1985 Safety Measures in Handling Agriculture Machinery English D. Gautaman Gurbir Singh Grewal 1986 The Story of Glass English S. Kumar Buddhadeb Dasgupta 1987 Golden Muga Silk - The Cultural Heritage of Assam English Director (NE), Central Silk Board, Assam Siba Prasad Thakur Looking Back English Drishtikon Productions Films Division Prakash Jha 1988 The Duo English Sanat Kumar Dasgupta Sanat Kumar Dasgupta
Best News Review It was instituted in 1975 and awarded at 23rd National Film Awards and lastly awarded in 1988 at 36th National Film Awards and discontinued after that.
List of films, showing the year, language(s), producer(s) and director(s) Year Film(s) Language(s) Producer(s) Director(s) 1975 Indian News Review No. 1399 N. V. K. Murthy 1976 Indian News Review No. 1559 1977 Unprecedented Havoc(Indian News Review No. 1520) English Films Division 1978 Uttar Pradesh Samachar 24 Hindi Director of Information and Public Relations, U.P. 1979 Indian News Review No. 1592 English 1980 Day of the Dark Sun(News Magazine 3) Films Division 1981 News Magazine 12 Vijay B. Chandra Films Division 1982 Asiad 82 - News 1 N. S. Thapa Films Division 1983 Shelter English FTII 1984 The Rickshaw Drivers of Madhya Pradesh English Madhya Pradesh Media Naren Kondra 1985 Taranath Shenoy(News Magazine 59) English P. B. PendharkarPritam S. Arshi M. S. GangadharAshok Patil 1986 The Pope Meets India(News Magazine 70) English P. B. PendharkarP. S. Arshi Films Division Camera Team Films Division 1987 Colours of Life(News Magazine 100) English Pritam S. Arshi Films Division Mahesh P. SinhaSant Lal Prasad (Cameraman) 1988 More Than a Success Story(News Magazine 129) English Biren Das Films Division K. B. Nair
Best Newsreel Cameraman It was instituted in 1975 and awarded at 23rd National Film Awards and lastly awarded in 1983 at 31st National Film Awards and discontinued after that.
List of films, showing the year (award ceremony), language(s) and producer(s) Year Film(s) Language(s) Producer(s) 1975 Flood Havocs(Indian News Review No. 1399) English A. S. AgnihotriAbinashi RamA. R. Saroef 1976 Indian News Review No. 1462 English 1977 Indian News Review No. 1508 English C. L. Kaul 1978 Dawn Over Gurais(Indian News Review No. 1568) English C. L. Kaul 1979 Mission To China (INR NO - 1585) 1980 Tragedy of Gendi(Indian News Review No. 1657) English Mahesh Pratap SinhaRajgopal Rao 1981 No Award 1982 No Award 1983 Tragedy of Gendi(Indian News Review No. 1799) English C. RamaniUday ShankarS. L. Prasad
Intermittent Feature film award categories
Best Feature Film in the languages of Schedule VIII
Best Bodo Feature Film
This has only been awarded twice so far, at 33rd National Film Awards in 1985, and more recently at the 63rd National Film Awards in 2015. The Bodo language, spoken mainly in Northeast India by about 1.4 million people, is a Scheduled language of the Indian Constitution since 2003.
List of films, showing the year (award ceremony), producer(s) and director(s) Year Film(s) Producer(s) Director(s) 1985 Alayaron Bodosa Film Productions Jwngdao Bodosa 2015 Dau Huduni Methai Shankarlal Goenka Manju Borah
Best Dogri Feature Film The National Film Award for Best Dogri Feature Film is for Dogri cinema. Till now, it is only awarded at 59th National Film Awards in 2011. Per Constitution of India, Dogri language is among the languages specified in the Schedule VIII of the Constitution.
List of films, showing the year (award ceremony), producer(s) and director(s) Year Film(s) Producer(s) Director(s) 2011 Dille Ch Vasya Koi Sanjeev Rattan Sanjeev Rattan
Best English Feature Film
Best Kashmiri Feature Film It is only awarded at 12th National Film Awards in 1964. Per Constitution of India, Kashmiri language is among the languages specified in the Schedule VIII of the Constitution.
List of films, showing the year (award ceremony), producer(s) and director(s) Year Film(s) Producer(s) Director(s) 1964 Mainz-Raat M. R. Seth ShyamJagiram Paul
Best Maithili Feature Film The National Film Award for Best Maithili Feature Film is for Maithili cinema. Till now, it is only awarded at 63rd National Film Awards in 2015. Per Constitution of India, Maithili is among the languages specified in the Schedule VIII of the Constitution.
List of films, showing the year (award ceremony), producer(s) and director(s) Year Film(s) Producer(s) Director(s) 2015 Mithila Makhaan Neetu ChandraSamir Kumar Nitin Chandra 2021 Samanantar Niraj Kumar Mishra Atul Pandey Niraj Kumar Mishra
Best Sanskrit Feature Film The National Film Award for Best Sanskrit Feature Film is for Sanskrit cinema. Till now, it has only been awarded once, at the 63rd National Film Awards in 2015. Per Constitution of India, Sanskrit language is among the languages specified in the Schedule VIII of the Constitution.
List of films, showing the year (award ceremony), producer(s) and director(s) Year Film(s) Producer(s) Director(s) 2015 Priyamanasam Baby Mathew Somatheeram Vinod Mankara
Best Urdu Feature Film This has been awarded four times, at the 41st National Film Awards in 1993, and 66th National Film Awards in 2018. at 44th National Film Awards in 1996, at the 60th National Film Awards in 2012 and at the 66th National Film Awards in 2018. Per Constitution of India, Urdu is among the languages specified in the Schedule VIII of the Constitution.
List of films, showing the year (award ceremony), producer(s) and director(s) Year Film(s) Producer(s) Director(s) 1993 Muhafiz Wahid Chowhan Ismail Merchant 1996 Sardari Begum Amit KhannaMahesh Bhatt Shyam Benegal 2012 Harud Aamir BashirShankar Raman Aamir Bashir 2018 Hamid Saregama India Limited Aijaz Khan
Best Feature Film in the languages not of Schedule VIII