The National Awards were established by the government of India in 1954. Since 1973, the award ceremonies are administrated by the Indian government’s Directorate of Film Festival.The awards were introduced to honor and encourage the films directed across India featuring Indian art and culture. Each year national panel is appointed by the government which selects the winning entry for the year. All the award ceremonies are held in New Delhi and the President of India hands out the awards to the winners. The ‘Best Screenplay’ award is one of the sub-categories of Silver Lotus Award which was introduced in the year 1967. The inaugural award was presented to Satyajit Ray for the movie ‘Nayak’. The movie was released in the US as Nayak: The Hero in 1966. This film was Ray's second entirely original screenplay. The movie is all about a matinee idol on a cross-country train journey who is placed in the centre of various psychodramas unfolding mostly among wealthy characters.
The Winners For Silver Lotus Best Screenplay Award Are:
|
Year
|
Screenplay Writer
|
Film
|
Language
|
|
2009
|
Sachin Kundalkar
|
Gandha
|
Marathi
|
|
2008
|
Feroz Abbas Khan
|
Gandhi, My Father
|
Hindi
|
|
2007
|
Abhijat Joshi,Rajkumar Hirani and Vidhu Vinod Chopra
|
Lage Raho Munna Bhai
|
Hindi
|
|
2006
|
Prakash Jha,Manoj Tyagi & Shridhar Raghavan
|
Apaharan
|
Hindi
|
|
2005
|
Manoj Tyagi & Nina Arora
|
Page 3
|
Hindi
|
|
2004
|
Gautam Ghose
|
Abar Aranye
|
Bengali
|
|
2003
|
Aparna Sen
|
Mr. and Mrs. Iyer
|
English
|
|
2002
|
Neelakanta
|
Show
|
Telugu
|
|
2001
|
Bharathiraja
|
Kadal Pookkal
|
Tamil
|
|
2000
|
Madampu Kunjukuttan
|
Karunam
|
Malayalam
|
|
1999
|
Ashok Mishra
|
Samar
|
Hindi
|
|
1998
|
Rituparno Ghosh
|
Dahan
|
Bengali
|
|
1997
|
Agathyan
|
Kadhal Kottai
|
Tamil
|
|
1996
|
Saeed Akhtar Mirza & Ashok Mishra
|
Naseem
|
Hindi
|
|
1995
|
M.T. Vasudevan Nair
|
Parinayam
|
Malayalam
|
|
1994
|
Satyajit Ray
|
Uttoran
|
Bengali
|
|
1993
|
M.T. Vasudevan Nair
|
Sadayam
|
Malayalam
|
|
1992
|
M.T. Vasudevan Nair
|
Kadavu
|
Malayalam
|
|
1991
|
K.S. Sethu Madhavan
|
Marupakkam
|
Tamil
|
|
1990
|
M.T. Vasudevan Nair
|
Oru Vadakkan Veeragatha
|
Malayalam
|
|
1989
|
Arundhati Roy
|
In Which Annie Gives it Those Ones
|
English
|
|
1988
|
Adoor Gopalakrishnan
|
Anantharam
|
Malayalam
|
|
1987
|
Budhdhadeb Dasgupta
|
Phera
|
Bengali
|
|
1986
|
Bhabendra Nath Saikia
|
Agni Snaan
|
Assamese
|
|
1985
|
Adoor Gopalakrishnan
|
Mukhamukham
|
Malayalam
|
|
1984
|
G V Iyer
|
Adi Shankaracharya
|
Sanskrit
|
|
1983
|
Mrinal Sen
|
Kharij
|
Bengali
|
|
1982
|
K. Balachander
|
Thanneer Thanneer
|
Tamil
|
|
1981
|
Mrinal Sen
|
Akaler Sandhane
|
Bengali
|
|
1980
|
Sai Paranjpye
|
Sparsh
|
Hindi
|
|
1979
|
T.S. Ranga &T.S. Nagabharana
|
Grahana
|
Kannada
|
|
1978
|
Satyadev Dubey, Shyam Benegal & Girish Karnad
|
Bhumika
|
Hindi
|
|
1977
|
Vijay Tendulkar
|
Manthan
|
Hindi
|
|
1976
|
-
|
-
|
-
|
|
1975
|
Satyajit Ray
|
Sonar Kella
|
Bengali
|
|
1974
|
Mrinal Sen & Ashish Burman
|
Padatik
|
Bengali
|
|
1973
|
Gulzar
|
Koshish
|
Hindi
|
|
1972
|
Tapan Sinha
|
Ekhonee
|
Bengali
|
|
1971
|
Satyajit Ray
|
Pratidwandi
|
Bengali
|
|
1970
|
Puttanna Kanagal
|
Gejje Pooje
|
Kannada
|
|
1969
|
Pandit Anand Kumar
|
Anokhi Raat
|
Hindi
|
|
1968
|
S. L. Puram Sadanandan
|
Agni Puthri
|
Malayalam
|
|
1967
|
Satyajit Ray
|
Nayak
|
Bengali
|