Indira Gandhi Award for Best Debut Film of a Director

The Indira Gandhi Award for Best Debut Film of a Director is one of the National Film Awards presented annually by the Directorate of Film Festivals, the organization set up by Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, India. It is one of several awards presented for feature films and awarded with Golden Lotus (Swarna Kamal).

The award was instituted in 1980, at 28th National Film Awards and awarded annually for films produced in the year across the country, in all Indian languages; Hindi (11 Awards), Bengali and Malayalam (8 Awards each), Tamil (4 Awards), Marathi (3 Awards), Assamese, English and Telugu (2 each), Haryanvi, Jasari, Karbi and Ladakhi (1 Each).

Award includes 'Golden Lotus Award' (Swarna Kamal) and cash prize. Award, sometimes, also be given as Indira Gandhi Award for Best Debut Film of A Director. Following are the award winners over the years:

Winners

Indicates a joint award for that year

List of award films, showing the year (award ceremony), language(s), producer(s), director(s) and citation
Year	Film(s)	Language(s)	Producer(s)	Director(s)	Citation	Refs.
1980 (28th)	Maina Tadanta	Bengali	–	Utpalendu Chakrabarty	For depicting with realistic vigor the exploitation perpetrated on the tribal and the landless, for portraying the spirited fight of the downtrodden and for showing great maturity in the conception and presentation of the theme in this maiden venture.
1981 (29th)	Aadharshila	Hindi	Ashok Ahuja	Ashok Ahuja	For making a bold statement on the aspirations and frustrations of the young generation of film-makers he himself represents and for a very sensitive treatment of the relationship between an idealist director and an inscrutable story-write.
1982 (30th)	Kann Sivanthaal Mann Sivakkum	Tamil	R. Venkat Raman	Sreedhar Rajan	For its original interpretation of a deep-rooted social evil, combining folk art with modern cinematic idiom.
1983 (31st)	Jaane Bhi Do Yaaro	Hindi	NFDC	Kundan Shah	For its treatment of contemporary theme with wit and humour.
1984 (32nd)	Meendum Oru Kaathal Kathai	Tamil	Raadhika Pothan	Prathap K. Pothan	–
1985 (33rd)	New Delhi Times	Hindi	P. K. Tiwari	Romesh Sharma	For a bold exposure of a murky world of politics where murder and mayhem are engineered for personal gains and truth becomes a casualty.
1986 (34th)	Yeh Woh Manzil To Nahin	Hindi	Sudhir Mishra	Sudhir Mishra	For an incisive analysis of history as seen through the eyes of three elderly freedom fighters and its impact on their stand against social injustice in contemporary times.
1987 (35th)	Ekti Jiban	Bengali	Chalchitra	Raja Mitra	For a very courageous first attempt of a director in tackling the subject of an individual unwavering in his conviction in the cultural value of his language and single handly making available its enriching value to the generation of his people who will come after him.
1988 (36th)	Trishagni	Hindi	Nabendu Ghosh	Nabendu Ghosh	For excellent exploration of complex philosophical theme for the first time in Indian cinema.
1989 (37th)	Wosobipo	Karbi	Karbi Anglong District Council	Gautam Bora	For its fresh and original evocation of the collective unconscious of a hill tribe whose way of life has been disintegrating over the last four decades, as seen through the eyes of a boy growing up into the responsibilities of manhood.
1990 (38th)	Perumthachan	Malayalam	G. Jayakumar	Ajayan	For depicting a historical backdrop with authenticity, shattering all traditional beliefs with superlative artistic texture.
1991 (39th)	Haladhar	Assamese	• Geeti Barua  • Dwijen Hazorika	Sanjeev Hazorika	For its freshness of approach, the subtlety of its pervasive humour and the courage shown in choosing to build a film around a plough.
1992 (40th)	Miss Beatty's Children	English	• NFDC  • Doordarshan  • Rooks AV	Pamela Rooks	For an elegantly simple and sensitive depiction of a British missionary woman who fights the devdasi system in pre-independent India.
1993 (41st)	Sunya Theke Suru	Bengali	• H. Das  • Madhumanti Maitra  • M. Das	Ashoke Viswanathan	For its creative handling of sensitive subject, exhibiting the socio-political situation of out society, spanning three decades.
1994 (42nd)	Mogamul	Tamil	J. Dharmambal	Gnana Rajasekaran	For an able translation of a literary work of art, for integrating music with melodramatic narrative and for a cinematic simplicity matched with remarkable directorial control.
1995 (43rd)	Kahini	Bengali	• Chandramala Bhattacharya  • Malaya Bhattacharya	Malaya Bhattacharya	For its bold and innovative style and choice of a subject in which the form and content merges into one.
1996 (44th)	Rag Birag	Assamese	• Bhabhen Baruah  • Khanin Baruah	Bidyut Chakraborty	For director's sensitivity in portraying complex human psyche of individual character's in the film.
1997 (45th)	Bhoothakkannadi	Malayalam	Nair Krishnakumar Unni	A. K. Lohithadas	For the director's competent handling of the delicate balance of the human psyche.
1998 (46th)	Daya	Malayalam	C. K. Gopinath	Venu	For its depiction of a delightful fairy-tale-like theme lending exotic sophistication and colour to the unique mosaic of creativity, imagination and style.
1999 (47th)	Dollar Dreams	English	Sekhar Kammula	Sekhar Kammula	For tacking in a very natural manner the burning problem of brain drain to the techno-logically developed world.
	Laado	Haryanvi	Kumud Chaudhary	Ashwini Chaudhary	For taking a bold stand over women's rights in the traditionally orthodox agricultural community of Haryana.
2000 (48th)	Sayahnam	Malayalam	M. S. Nazeer	R. Sarath	For the nature and gripping manner in which this young director deals with complex issues like political honesty and nuclear disarmament.
2001 (49th)	Thilaadanam	Telugu	NFDC	K. N. T. Sastry	For its juxtaposition of two diverse ideologies existing within the same family, the father's belief in his religion and traditions and his son's revolutionary ideology. The film strikes a very fine balance in inter-generational explorations.
2002 (50th)	Patalghar	Bengali	Niti Sonee Gourisaria	Abhijit Chaudhuri	For its craftsmanship and fine blending of the conventions of science fiction and an indigenous narrative form.
	Prohor	Bengali	Debjani Gupta	Subhadro Chaudhary	For its use of sensitive idiom to portray the trauma of a brutalized woman.
2003 (51st)	Margam	Malayalam	Rajiv Vijay Raghavan	Rajiv Vijay Raghavan	For poignantly capturing the troubled journey of a middle-aged individual reexamining his p0litical past in the light of prevailing socio-political values.
2004 (52nd)	Grahanam	Telugu	N. Anji Reddy	Mohan Krishna Indraganti	For invoking nostalgia in a manner that is powerful yet poetic.
2005 (53rd)	Parineeta	Hindi	Vidhu Vinod Chopra	Pradeep Sarkar	For the competent directorial style to recreate a classic novel with modern cinematic sensibilities.
2006 (54th)	Eakantham	Malayalam	Anthony Joseph	Madhu Kaithapram	For sensitively portraying the solitude of two ageing brothers who have lost everyone around them.
	Kabul Express	Hindi	Aditya Chopra	Kabir Khan	For capturing, through the journey of two Indian journalists, the collapse of Taliban in post 9/11 Afghanistan.
2007 (55th)	Frozen	• Hindi  • Ladakhi	Shivajee Chandrabhushan	Shivajee Chandrabhushan	For bringing to life with warmth and vivacity life in those distant desolate snow bound heights where existence itself is a fulltime challenge.
2008 (56th)	A Wednesday!	Hindi	UTV Motion Pictures	Neeraj Pandey	For slick and searing exposure of the tension below the normal rhythm of life and the angst of the common man in Mumbai.
2009 (57th)	Lahore	Hindi	Vivek Khatkar	Sanjay Puran Singh Chauhan	For excellent control over the medium and using sport as a metaphor to tell a compelling story.
2010 (58th)	Baboo Band Baaja	Marathi	Nita Jadhav	Rajesh Pinjani	For a riveting tale of a father reluctant to educate his son, a mother who fiercely believes in its liberatory value, and the son who is caught in the crossfire, 'Baboo' is an outstanding debut project by director.
2011 (59th)	Aaranya Kaandam	Tamil	S. P. B. Charan	Thiagarajan Kumararaja	For a stylized and ironic reinvention of the gangster genre that presents a dazzling map of Chennai's subterranean world of druglords and violence. The director cinematically scrutinizes the landscape of decaying architecture, abandoned factories, old cars and the crisis of masculinity to present a labyrinthine urban dystopia. The city emerges as a wasteland that is simultaneously mundane, shocking and nightmarish.
2012 (60th)	Chittagong	Hindi	Bedabrata Pain	Bedabrata Pain	A page from the history of India's independence struggle. The director has recreated a small town incident which had national impact with consummate artistry in his debut film.
	101 Chodyangal	Malayalam	Thomas Kottackkakom	Sidhartha Siva	Highly watchable cinematic experience presented through a special relationship between a young precocious child and his conscientious school teacher. The director in his debut film has done a commendable job in putting forth a topical and sensitive issue.
2013 (61st)	Fandry	Marathi	• Navalkha Arts  • Holy Basil Combine	Nagraj Manjule	A stark and realistic portrayal of Dalits in India seen through the eyes of a young boy who is desperately trying to break age old shackles. It makes a strong statement that despite various reformers doing their best.... much remains to be done.
2014 (62nd)	Asha Jaoar Majhe	Bengali	• For Films  • Salaam Cinema	Aditya Vikram Sengupta	For the portrayal of routine ordinary life with extraordinary cinematic finesse.
2015 (63rd)	Masaan	Hindi	Phantom Films	Neeraj Ghaywan	For his perceptive approach to film-making in handling a layered story of people caught up changing social and moral values.
2016 (64th)	Alifa	Bengali	Amaan Ahmed	Deep Choudhury	It brings out the nuances of a very complex socio-environmental problem.
2017 (65th)	Sinjar	Jasari	Shibu G. Suseelan	Pampally	–
2018 (66th)	Naal	Marathi	Nagraj Manjule	Sudhakar Reddy Yakkanti	The film is a poignant message about the ethics of adoption, told through a child’s perspective.
2019 (67th)	Helen	Malayalam	Vineeth Sreenivasan	Mathukutty Xavier	An engaging way of story-telling of a young girl entrapped in a cold storage in the middle of night and the frantic struggle of her lover and father to locate her.

External links

• Official Page for Directorate of Film Festivals, India
• National Film Awards Archives
• National Film Awards at IMDb