Type National Instituted 1984 Cash award 50,000 INR (US$790) | Category Indian cinema First awarded 1984 Established 1984 Total awarded 35 | |
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Description Best Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role Medal Rajat Kamal (Silver Lotus) People also search for National Film Award for Best Supporting Actor | ||
The National Film Award for Best Supporting Actress (also known as the Rajat Kamal Award for the Best Supporting Actress) ([rədʒət̪ kəməl]), is an honour presented annually at the National Film Awards of India since 1984 to an actress for the best performance in a supporting role within Indian cinema. The National Film Awards were established in 1954 and are presented by the Directorate of Film Festivals, the organization set up by Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, India. The National Film Awards instituted the "Best Supporting Actress" category in 1984 as the "Rajat Kamal Award for the Best Supporting Actress".
It is one of several awards presented for feature films and the winners are awarded with a "Rajat Kamal" (Silver Lotus), certificate and a cash prize that amounted to ₹50,000 (US$740). Throughout the years, accounting for ties and repeat winners, the Government of India has presented a total of 33 Best Supporting Actress awards to 31 different actresses. Although the Indian cinema produces films in more than 20 languages, the actresses whose performances have won awards have worked in eight major languages: Bengali, English, Hindi, Meitei, Marathi, Malayalam, Oriya, Tamil and Urdu.
The first recipient was Rohini Hattangadi, who was honoured at the 32nd National Film Awards (1984) for her performance in the Hindi film Party. The actresses who have won the most number of awards are Surekha Sikri and K. P. A. C. Lalitha with two. Surekha Sikri won the awards for her performances in the Hindi films Tamas (1987) and Mammo (1994), while Lalitha won the awards for her performances in the Malayalam films Amaram (1990) and Shantham (2000). Egyptian actress Aida El-Kashef, who was honoured at the 61st National Film Awards for her performances in the English-Hindi film Ship of Theseus (2013) is the only non-Indian actress to win the award. Kalpana and Urvashi are the only siblings to win the National Film Award in this category. The most recent recipient is Tanvi Azmi, who was honoured at the 63rd National Film Awards for her performance in the Hindi film Bajirao Mastani (2015).