National Film Award for Best Actor in a Leading Role
The National Film Award for Best Actor in a Leading Role 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. 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". As of 2024, accounting for ties and repeat winners, the Government of India has presented a total of 64 "Best Actor" awards to 49 actors. Until 1974, winners of the National Film Award received a figurine and certificate; since 1975, they have been awarded with a "Rajat Kamal", certificate and a cash prize. Since the 70th National Film Awards, the name was changed to "National Film Award for Best Actor in a Leading Role".
Although the Indian film industry produces films in around 20 languages and dialects, the actors whose performances have won awards have worked in eight major languages: Hindi, Malayalam, Tamil, Bengali, Kannada, Marathi, English, and Telugu.
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. He was also the first actor who won this award for two different films in the same year. As of 2023 edition, Amitabh Bachchan is the most honoured actor with four awards. Kamal Haasan, Mammootty and Ajay Devgn with three awards, while six actors—Mohanlal, Mithun Chakraborty, Sanjeev Kumar, Om Puri, Naseeruddin Shah and Dhanush—have won the award two times. Two actors have achieved the honour for performing in two languagesMithun Chakraborty and Mammootty. The most recent recipients were Shah Rukh Khan and Vikrant Massey who were honoured at the 71st National Film Awards for their performances in Jawan and 12th Fail respectively.