| 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) |
|
| First awarded | 1955 |
| Last awarded | 2022 |
| Most recent winner | Ponniyin Selvan: I |
| Highlights | |
| Total awarded | 81 |
| First winner | Malaikkallan |
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).
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.