The National Film Award for Best Actor, officially known as the Rajat Kamal Award for the Best Actor (Hindi pronunciation: [rədʒət̪ kəməl]), is an honour presented annually at the National Film Awards of India instituted since 1967 to actors who have delivered the best performance in a leading role within the Indian film industry.[1] Called the "State Awards for Films" when established in 1954, the National Film Awards ceremony is older than the Directorate of Film Festivals. The State Awards instituted the individual award in 1968 as the "Bharat Award for the Best Actor"; in 1975, it was renamed as the "Rajat Kamal Award for the Best Actor".[1][2][3] Throughout the past 45 years, accounting for ties and repeat winners, the Government of India has presented a total of 52 "Best Actor" awards to 40 actors. Until 1974, winners of the National Film Award received a figurine and certificate; since 1975, they have been awarded with a "Rajat Kamal" (silver lotus), certificate and a cash prize.[a][2]
| National Film Award for Best Actor | |
|---|---|
 The 2021 recipient: Allu Arjun for Pushpa: The Rise | |
| Awarded for | Best Performance by an Actor |
| Sponsored by | Directorate of Film Festivals |
| Formerly called | Bharat Award (1968–1974) |
| Reward(s) |
|
| First awarded | 1967 |
| Last awarded | 2023 |
| Most recent winner | Allu Arjun |
| Highlights | |
| Most awards | Amitabh Bachchan (4) |
| Total awarded | 61 |
| First winner | Uttam Kumar |
Although the Indian film industry produces films in around 20 languages and dialects,[1] the actors whose performances have won awards have worked in eight major languages: Hindi (twenty-five awards), Malayalam (fourteen awards), Tamil (nine awards), Bengali (five awards), Marathi, Kannada (three awards), English (two awards), and Telugu (one award).
The first recipient was Uttam Kumar from Bengali cinema, who was honoured at the 15th National Film Awards in 1967 for his performances in Anthony Firingee and Chiriyakhana.[5] He was also the first actor who won this award for two different films in the same year. As of 2020, Amitabh Bachchan is the most honoured actor with four awards. Kamal Haasan, Mammootty and Ajay Devgn with three awards, while six actors—Mohanlal, Sanjeev Kumar, Om Puri, Naseeruddin Shah, Mithun Chakraborty, and Dhanush—have won the award two times. Two actors have achieved the honour for performing in two languages—Mithun Chakraborty (Hindi and Bengali) and Mammootty (Malayalam and English).[6]. The most recent recipient is Allu Arjun who is honoured at the 69th National Film Awards for his performance in the film Pushpa: The Rise.
Key
| Symbol | Meaning |
|---|---|
| Year | Indicates the year in which the film was censored by the Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC) |
| † | Indicates a joint award for that year |
| ‡ | Indicates that the winner won the award for two performances in that year |
Recipients
(The first-ever recipient of the Best Actor Award for his performances in Antony Firingee and Chiriyakhana in 1967.)
(Bachchan has been the most frequent winner of the award (four times, having won the award for his performances in Agneepath (1990), Black (2005), Paa (2009) and Piku (2015).)
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(was awarded for his debut film.[7])
(youngest winner)