National Film Award for Best Malayalam Feature Film

National Film Award for Best Malayalam Feature Film
National award for contributions to Indian Cinema
Awarded forBest Malayalam Feature Film(s) of the year
Sponsored byNational Film Development Corporation of India
Formerly calledPresident's Silver Medal for Best Feature Film in Malayalam (1954–1968)
National Film Award for Best Feature Film in Malayalam (1969–2021)
Reward(s)
  • Rajat Kamal (Silver Lotus)
  • ₹2,00,000
First awarded1954
Last awarded2022
Most recent winnerSaudi Vellakka
Highlights
Total awarded78
First winnerNeelakuyil

The National Film Award for Best Malayalam 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). Since the 70th National Film Awards, the name was changed to "Best Malayalam Feature Film".[1]

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.[2] 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).

The first winner of the "President's Silver Medal for Best Feature Film in Malayalam" was the 1954 film Neelakuyil. Jointly directed by P. Bhaskaran and Ramu Kariat, the film was based on a story written by Malayalam writer Uroob. It told the story of a love affair between a Dalit girl and an educated, high caste school teacher. The film is considered a landmark in Malayalam cinema history.[3] Along with Neelakuyil, S. S. Rajan directed film Sneha Seema was honoured with a Certificate of Merit. Following is the list of Silver Lotus Award (Rajat Kamal) recipient films produced in Malayalam language.

  1. ^ Under Secretary to the Government of India (14 December 2023). "Report on Rationalization of Awards Conferred by the Ministry of Information & Broadcasting | Ministry of Information and Broadcasting | Government of India". Ministry of Information and Broadcasting. Retrieved 28 August 2024.
  2. ^ "2nd National Film Awards" (PDF). Retrieved 23 August 2011.
  3. ^ B. Vijayakumar (1 November 2008). "Neelakuyil 1954". The Hindu. Archived from the original on 29 June 2011. Retrieved 28 December 2010.