Portal:Hindi cinema/Selected article/17

The National Film Award for Best Actress is an honour presented annually at the National Film Awards of India since 1968 to an actress for the best performance in a leading role within the Indian film industry. The National Film Awards were called the "State Awards for Films" when established in 1954. The State Awards instituted the "Best Actress" category in 1968 as the "Urvashi Award for the Best Actress"; in 1975, the "Urvashi Award" was renamed as the "Rajat Kamal Award for the Best Actress". Throughout the years, accounting for ties and repeat winners, the Indian Government has presented a total of 48 Best Actress awards to 38 different actresses. Until 1974, winners of the National Film Award received a figurine and certificate; since 1975, they have been awarded with a "Rajat Kamal" (silver lotus), certificate and a cash prize that amounted to ₹50,000 (US$600) in 2012. Although the Indian film industry produces films in more than 20 languages and dialects, the actresses whose performances have won awards have worked in ten major languages: Assamese, Bengali, English, Hindi, Kannada, Malayalam, Marathi, Tamil, Telugu and Urdu. The first recipient was Nargis Dutt from Bollywood, who was honoured at the 15th National Film Award (1968) for her performance in Raat Aur Din. The actress who won the most number of Rajat Kamal awards is Shabana Azmi (pictured) with five wins, followed by Sharada with three.