National Film Award for Best Tamil Feature Film

The National Film Award for Best Tamil Feature Film 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 Tamil Feature Film
National award for contributions to Indian Cinema
Awarded for	Best Tamil Feature Film(s) of the year
Sponsored by	National Film Development Corporation of India
Formerly called	President's Silver Medal for Best Feature Film in Tamil (1954–1968) National Film Award for Best Feature Film in Tamil (1969–2021)
Reward(s)	Rajat Kamal (Silver Lotus) ₹2,00,000
First award	1955
Final award	2023
Most recent winner	Parking
Highlights
Total awarded	81
First winner	Malaikkallan

The National Film Awards, established in 1954, are the most prominent film awards in India that merit the best of the Indian cinema. The ceremony also presents awards for films in various regional languages.

Awards for films in seven regional language (Bengali, Hindi, Kannada, Malayalam, Marathi, Tamil and Telugu) started from 2nd National Film Awards which were presented on 21 December 1955. Three awards of "President's Silver Medal for Best Feature Film", "Certificate of Merit for the Second Best Feature Film" and "Certificate of Merit for the Third Best Feature Film" were instituted. The later two certificate awards were discontinued from 15th National Film Awards (1967). Since the 70th National Film Awards, the name was changed to "Best Tamil Feature Film".^[1]

The 1954 film, directed by S. M. Sriramulu Naidu, Malaikkallan was honoured with the first president's silver medal for Best Feature Film in Tamil. Certificate of Merit for Second and Third Best Feature Films in Tamil were received by Andha Naal and Edhir Paradhathu respectively.

Winners

Award includes 'Rajat Kamal' (Silver Lotus Award) and cash prize. Following are the award winners over the years:

Awards legends
*	President's Silver Medal for Best Feature Film
*	Certificate of Merit for the Second Best Feature Film
*	Certificate of Merit for the Third Best Feature Film
*	Certificate of Merit for the Best Feature Film

List of award films, showing the year (award ceremony), producer(s) and director(s)
Year	Film(s)	Producer(s)	Director(s)	Refs.
1954 (2nd)	Malaikkallan	Pakshiraja Studios	S. M. Sriramulu Naidu	[2]
	Andha Naal	AVM Productions	S. Balachander
	Edhir Paradhathu	• Saravanabhava  • Unity Pictures	Ch. Narayanamoorthy
1955 (3rd)	Mangaiyar Thilakam	Vaidya Films	L. V. Prasad	[3]
1956 (4th)	Kuladeivam	S. K. Pictures	Krishnan–Panju	[4]
1957 (5th)	Mudhalali	M. A. V. Pictures	Muktha V. Srinivasan	[5]
1958 (6th)	Thanga Padhumai	Jupitor Pictures Pvt Ltd.	A. S. A. Samy	[6]
	Annaiyin Aanai	A. M. M. Ismayil	Ch. Narayanamoorthy
1959 (7th)	Bhaaga Pirivinai	G. N. Velumani	A. Bhimsingh	[7]
	Veerapandiya Kattabomman	B. R. Panthulu	B. R. Panthulu
	Kalyana Parisu	• Sarvashri S. Krishnamurthy  • T. Govindarajan  • C. V. Sridhar	C. V. Sridhar
1960 (8th)	Parthiban Kanavu	Jubilee Films Pvt Ltd.	D. Yoganand	[8]
	Paadhai Theriyudhu Paar	Kumari Films Pvt Ltd.	Nemai Ghosh
	Kalathur Kannamma	AVM Productions	A. Bhimsingh
1961 (9th)	Kappalottiya Thamizhan	Padmini Pictures	B. R. Panthulu	[9]
	Pasamalar	Rajamani Pictures	A. Bhimsingh
	Kumudham	Modern Theatres	Adurthi Subba Rao
1962 (10th)	Nenjil Oor Alayam	Chithralaya	C. V. Sridhar	[10]
	Annai	AVM Productions	Krishnan–Panju
	Sarada	Al. Srinivasan	K. S. Gopalakrishnan
1963 (11th)	Naanum Oru Penn	Murugan Brothers	A. C. Tirulokchandar	[11]
	Karpagam	K. S. Sabarinathan	K. S. Gopalakrishnan
	Karnan	B. R. Panthulu	B. R. Panthulu
1964 (12th)	Kai Koduttha Dheivam	M. S. Velappan	K. S. Gopalakrishnan
	Pazhani	A. P. Chinnappa	A. Bhimsingh
	Server Sundaram	AVM Productions	Krishnan–Panju
1965 (13th)	Kuzhandaiyum Deivamum	AVM Productions	Krishnan–Panju	[12]
	Thiruvilayadal	Shri Vijayalakshmi Pictures	A. P. Nagarajan
1966 (14th)	Ramu	AVM Productions	A. C. Tirulokchandar
1967 (15th)	Aalayam	M/s. Sunbeam	• Thirumalai  • Mahalingam	[13]
1968 (16th)	Thillana Mohanambal	Shri Vijayalakshmi Pictures	A. P. Nagarajan	[14]
1969 (17th)	Iru Kodugal	• N. Selvaraj  • B. Doraisamy  • N. Krishan  • V. Govindarajan	K. Balachander	[15]
1970 (18th)	Raman Ethanai Ramanadi	P. Madhavan	P. Madhavan	[16]
1971 (19th)	Veguli Penn	Abdul Kabar	S. S. Devadass
1972 (20th)	Pattikada Pattanama	P. Madhavan	P. Madhavan	[17]
1973 (21st)	Dikkatra Parvathi	• M. Lakshmikantha Reddy  • H. M. Sanjeeva Reddy	Singeetham Srinivasa Rao	[18]
1974 (22nd)	No Award			[19]
1975 (23rd)	Apoorva Raagangal	• P. R. Govindarajan  • J. Duraisamy	K. Balachander	[20]
1976 (24th)	No Award
1977 (25th)	Agraharathil Kazhuthai	–	John Abraham	[21]
1978 (26th)	No Award			[22]
1979 (27th)	Pasi	G. Lalitha	Durai	[23]
1980 (28th)	Nenjathai Killathe	K. Rajgopal Chetty	Mahendran	[24]
1981 (29th)	Thaneer Thaneer	• P. R. Govindarajan  • J. Duraisamy	K. Balachander	[25]
1982 (30th)	Ezhavathu Manithan	Palai N. Shanmugam	K. Hariharan	[26]
1983 (31st)	Oru Indhiya Kanavu	• T. P. Varadarajan  • Vijayalakshmi Desikan	Komal Swaminathan	[27]
1984 (32nd)	Achamillai Achamillai	• Rajam Balachander  • V. Natarajan	K. Balachander	[28]
1985 (33rd)	Muthal Mariyathai	Bharathiraja	Bharathiraja	[29]
1986 (34th)	Mouna Ragam	G. Venkateswaran	Mani Ratnam	[30]
1987 (35th)	Veedu	Kaladas	Balu Mahendra	[31]
1988 (36th)	No Award			[32]
1989 (37th)	Pudhea Paadhai	A. Sundaram	R. Parthiban	[33]
1990 (38th)	Anjali	M/S Sujatha Productions (P) Ltd	Mani Ratnam	[34]
1991 (39th)	Vanna Vanna Pookkal	Kalaipuli S. Dhanu	Balu Mahendra	[35]
1992 (40th)	Thevar Magan	Kamal Haasan	Bharathan	[36]
1993 (41st)	Mahanadi	S. A. Rajakannu	Santhana Bharathi	[37]
1994 (42nd)	Nammavar	B. Venkatarama Reddy	K. S. Sethumadhavan	[38]
1995 (43rd)	Anthimanthaarai	Tilaka Ganesh (Mega Movie Makers)	Bharathiraja	[39]
1996 (44th)	Kadhal Kottai	Sivashakthi Pandian	Agaththian	[40]
1997 (45th)	The Terrorist	A. Sriram	Santosh Sivan	[41]
1998 (46th)	Housefull	R. Parthiban	R. Parthiban	[42]
1999 (47th)	Sethu	A. Kandasamy	Bala	[43]
2000 (48th)	Bharati	Messers Media Dreams (P) Ltd	Gnana Rajasekaran	[44]
2001 (49th)	Ooruku Nooruper	L. Suresh	B. Lenin	[45]
2002 (50th)	Kannathil Muthamittal	• Mani Ratnam  • G. Srinivasan	Mani Ratnam	[46]
2003 (51st)	Iyarkai	V. R. Kumar	S. P. Jananathan	[47]
2004 (52nd)	Navarasa	Sunil Doshi	Santosh Sivan	[48]
2005 (53rd)	Aadum Koothu	Light and Shadow Movie Makers	T. V. Chandran	[49]
2006 (54th)	Veyil	S. Shankar	Vasanthabalan	[50]
2007 (55th)	Periyar	M/s Liberty Creations Ltd.	Gnana Rajasekaran	[51]
2008 (56th)	Vaaranam Aayiram	V. Ravichandran	Gautham Vasudev Menon	[52]
2009 (57th)	Pasanga	M. Sasikumar	Pandiraj	[53]
2010 (58th)	Thenmerku Paruvakaatru	Shibu Issac	Seenu Ramasamy	[54]
2011 (59th)	Vaagai Sooda Vaa	• S. Muruganandham  • N. Puranna	A. Sarkunam	[55]
2012 (60th)	Vazhakku Enn 18/9	N. Subhash Chandra Bose	Balaji Sakthivel	[56]
2013 (61st)	Thanga Meengal	JSK Film Corporation	Ram	[57]
2014 (62nd)	Kuttram Kadithal	• Chris Pictures  • JSK Film Corporation	G. Bramma	[58]
2015 (63rd)	Visaranai	Wunderbar Films	Vetrimaaran	[59]
2016 (64th)	Joker	Dream Warrior Pictures	Raju Murugan	[60]
2017 (65th)	To Let	Prema Chezhian	Chezhiyan	[61]
2018 (66th)	Baaram	• Priya Krishnaswamy  • Ardra Swaroop	Priya Krishnaswamy	[62]
2019 (67th)	Asuran	Kalaipuli S. Thanu	Vetrimaaran	[63]
2020 (68th)	Sivaranjiniyum Innum Sila Pengalum	Hamsa Productions	Vasanth	[64]
2021 (69th)	Kadaisi Vivasayi	Tribal Arts Production	M. Manikandan	[65]
2022 (70th)	Ponniyin Selvan: I	• Madras Talkies  • Lyca Productions	Mani Ratnam	[66]
2023 (71st)	Parking	• Passion Studios  • Soldiers Factory	Ramkumar Balakrishnan	[67]