National Film Award for Best Cinematography

The National Film Award for Best Cinematography is one of the National Film Awards presented annually by the National Film Development Corporation of India. It is one of several awards presented for feature films and awarded with Rajat Kamal (Silver Lotus).

National Film Award for Best Cinematography
National award for contributions to Indian Cinema
Sponsored by	National Film Development Corporation of India
Formerly called	Award for excellence in Cinematography (1967–1976)
Reward(s)	Rajat Kamal (Silver Lotus) ₹2,00,000
First award	1967
Final award	2023
Most recent winner	Prasantanu Mohapatra, The Kerala Story
Highlights
Total awarded	69 (Cameraman) 23 (Laboratory Processing) 1 (Cinematographer)
First winner	Ramachandra (Colour) M. N. Malhotra (Black-and-white)

The award was instituted in 1967, at 15th National Film Awards and awarded annually for films produced in the year across the country, in all Indian languages. Till 34th National Film Awards, awards were given for Black-and-white as well as Color motion picture film. Since 37th National Film Awards, Laboratory Processing are also awarded under the same category. From 70th National Film Awards, the primary/main cinematographer is alone awarded, while eliminating the existing two sub-categories.^[1]

Multiple winners

4 wins: K. K. Mahajan, Avik Mukhopadhyay, Santosh Sivan

3 wins: Soumendu Roy, Apurba Kishore Bir, Madhu Ambat, Venu

2 wins: Ramachandra, Balu Mahendra, Ashok Mehta, Sudeep Chatterjee

Recipients

Award includes 'Rajat Kamal' (Silver Lotus) and cash prize. The only female who has won this award is Anjuli Shukla, who won the award for her debut film, Kutty Srank (2010). Prasad Film Lab has been awarded eight times for the laboratory processing. Following are the award winners over the years:

*	Indicates Black-and-white feature film

1967–2021

List of award recipients, showing the year (award ceremony), film(s) and language(s)
Year	Cameraman(s)	Laboratory Processing	Film(s)	Language(s)	Refs.
1967 (15th)	Ramachandra	–	Bambai Raat Ki Bahon Mein	Hindi	[2]
	M. N. Malhotra	–	Hamraaz	Hindi
1968 (16th)	Nariman Irani	–	Saraswatichandra	Hindi	[3]
	K. S. Prasad	–	Thillana Mohanambal	Tamil
1969 (17th)	K. K. Mahajan	–	Sara Akash	Hindi	[4]
	Marcus Bartley	–	Shanti Nilayam	Tamil
1970 (18th)	K. K. Mahajan	–	Uski Roti	Hindi	[5]
	Radhu Karmakar	–	Mera Naam Joker	Hindi
1971 (19th)	Nando Bhattacharya	–	Anubhav	Hindi	[6]
	Ramachandra	–	Reshma Aur Shera	Hindi
1972 (20th)	Mankada Ravi Varma	–	Swayamvaram	Malayalam	[7]
	K. K. Mahajan	–	Maya Darpan	Hindi
1973 (21st)	Apurba Kishore Bir	–	27 Down	Hindi	[8]
	Soumendu Roy	–	Ashani Sanket	Bengali
1974 (22nd)	K. K. Mahajan	–	Chorus	Bengali	[9]
	Soumendu Roy	–	Sonar Kella	Bengali
1975 (23rd)	B. S. Lokanath	–	Apoorva Raagangal	Tamil	[10]
	Ishan Arya	–	Muthyala Muggu	Telugu
1976 (24th)	P. S. Nivas	–	Mohiniyaattam	Malayalam	[11]
	S. Ramachandra	–	Rishya Shringa	Kannada
1977 (25th)	Balu Mahendra	–	Kokila	Kannada	[12]
	Soumendu Roy	–	Shatranj Ke Khilari	Hindi
1978 (26th)	Shaji N. Karun	–	Thampu	Malayalam	[13]
	Govind Nihalani	–	Junoon	Hindi
1979 (27th)	Kamal Nayak	–	Neem Annapurna	Bengali	[14]
	Rajan Kinagi	–	Shodh	Hindi
1980 (28th)	Sivan	–	Yagam	Malayalam	[15]
	Ashok Kumar	–	Nenjathai Killathe	Tamil
1981 (29th)	Shripati R. Bhat	–	Mooru Darigalu	Kannada	[16]
	Ashok Mehta	–	36 Chowringhee Lane	English
1982 (30th)	Balu Mahendra	–	Moondram Pirai	Tamil	[17]
1983 (31st)	B. Bindhani	–	Neeraba Jhada	Oriya	[18]
	Raj Shekhar
	Madhu Ambat	–	Adi Shankaracharya	Sanskrit
1984 (32nd)	Jehangir Choudhary	–	Holi	Hindi	[19]
1985 (33rd)	Subrata Mitra	–	New Delhi Times	Hindi	[20]
1986 (34th)	Venu	–	Namukku Parkkan Munthiri Thoppukal	Malayalam	[21]
			Amma Ariyan
1987 (35th)	P. C. Sreeram	–	Nayakan	Tamil	[22]
1988 (36th)	Apurba Kishore Bir	–	Daasi	Telugu	[23]
1989 (37th)	Virendra Saini	Adlabs	Salim Langde Pe Mat Ro	Hindi	[24]
1990 (38th)	Santosh Sivan	Vijay Colour Lab	Perumthachan	Malayalam	[25]
1991 (39th)	Apurba Kishore Bir	Prasad Film Lab	Aadi Mimansa	Oriya	[26]
1992 (40th)	Venu	Prasad Film Lab	Miss Beatty's Children	English	[27]
1993 (41st)	Venu	Prasad Film Lab	Ponthan Mada	Malayalam	[28]
1994 (42nd)	K. V. Anand	Gemini Color Lab	Thenmavin Kombath	Malayalam	[29]
1995 (43rd)	Santosh Sivan	Gemini Color Lab	Kaalapani	Malayalam	[30]
1996 (44th)	Mrinal Kanti Das	Prasad Film Lab	• Adajya  • Rag Birag	Assamese	[31]
1997 (45th)	Santosh Sivan	Prasad Film Lab	Iruvar	Tamil	[32]
1998 (46th)	Santosh Sivan	Gemini Color Lab	Dil Se..	Hindi	[33]
1999 (47th)	Anil Mehta	Adlabs	Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam	Hindi	[34]
2000 (48th)	Ashok Mehta	Prasad Film Lab	Moksha	Hindi	[35]
2001 (49th)	Ramachandra Halkare	Prasad Film Lab	Dweepa	Kannada	[36]
2002 (50th)	Abhik Mukhopadhyay	Rainbow Color Lab	Patalghar	Bengali	[37]
2003 (51st)	Abhik Mukhopadhyay	Rainbow Color Lab	Bhalo Theko	Bengali	[38]
2004 (52nd)	Mahesh Aney	Adlabs	Swades	Hindi	[39]
2005 (53rd)	Madhu Ambat	Prasad Film Lab	Sringaram	Tamil	[40]
2006 (54th)	Gautam Ghose	Rainbow Colour Lab	Yatra	Hindi	[41]
2007 (55th)	Shanker Raman	Deluxe Laboratories Inc.	Frozen	Hindi	[42]
2008 (56th)	Abhik Mukhopadhyay	Filmlab	Antaheen	Bengali	[43]
2009 (57th)	Anjuli Shukla	Adlabs	Kutty Srank	Malayalam	[44]
2010 (58th)	Madhu Ambat	–	Adaminte Makan Abu	Malayalam	[45]
2011 (59th)	Satya Rai Nagpaul	Reliance MediaWorks	Anhe Ghore Da Daan	Punjabi	[46]
2012 (60th)	Sudheer Palsane	Prasad Studios	Ko:Yad	Mishing	[47]
2013 (61st)	Rajeev Ravi	–	Liar's Dice	Hindi	[48]
2014 (62nd)	Sudeep Chatterjee	–	Chotushkone	Bengali	[49]
2015 (63rd)	Sudeep Chatterjee	–	Bajirao Mastani	Hindi	[50]
2016 (64th)	Tirru	–	24	Tamil	[51]
2017 (65th)	Nikhil S. Praveen	–	Bhayanakam	Malayalam
2018 (66th)	M. J. Radhakrishnan	–	Olu	Malayalam	[52]
2019 (67th)	Girish Gangadharan	–	Jallikattu	Malayalam	[53]
2020 (68th)	Supratim Bhol	–	Avijatrik	Bengali
2021 (69th)	Avik Mukhopadhyay	–	Sardar Udham	Hindi

2022–present

Since the 70th National Film Awards, cinematographer alone is awarded.

List of award recipients, showing the year (award ceremony), film(s) and language(s)
Year	Recipient(s)	Film(s)	Language(s)	Refs.
2022 (70th)	Ravi Varman	Ponniyin Selvan: I	Tamil	[54]
2023 (71st)	Prasantanu Mohapatra	The Kerala Story	Hindi	[55]