Award for best book on cinema is a national film award. This award aims at encouraging the appreciation and study of Indian cinema as an expressive art form through the publication of cinema centric books, reviews articles etc. The best book on cinema is decided after a thoughtful judgement of the jury of national Film award. In the year 1982 for the first time the Tamil book on cinema named as Thamizh Cinemavin Kathai written by Aranthai Narayanan Tamil won the award.
Following is a list of the awards for Best Book on Cinema
| 2007 | Helen: The Life and Times of an H-Bomb | Jerry Pinto | English |
| 2005 | Stardust - Vignettes from the Fringes of Film Industry | Roopa Swaminathan | English |
| 2004 | Filmi Jagat mein Ardhashakti ka Romanch | Ramakrishna | Hindi |
| 2003 | 1Paroma and other Outsiders: The Cinema of Aparna Sen | Shoma Chatterjee | English |
| 2.Ritu Aaye Ritu Jaaye | Sarat Dutt | Hindi | |
| 2002 | no award | - | - |
| 2001 | Sholay: The Making of a Classic | Anupama Chopra | Hindi |
| 2000 | 1Malayala Cinemayum Sahithyavum | Madhu Eravankara | Malayalam |
| 2.Marathi Chitrapat Sangeetachi Vatchal | Aruna Anand Damle | Marathi | |
| 1999 | Cinema ki Bhasha aur Hindi Samvadon ka Vishleshan | Dr. Kishore Vasvani | Hindi |
| 1998 | 1.Hindi Cinema aur Delhi | Savith Bhakhir & Adithya Aswathi | English |
| 2.Cinemachi Goshta | Anil Jhankar | Marathi | |
| 1997 | no award | - | - |
| 1996 | Marathi Cinema - In Retrospect | Sanjit Narwekar | English |
| 1995 | Abhinayam Anubhavam | Bharat Gopi | Malayalam |
| 1994 | Naalo Nenu | Dr. Bhanumathi Ramakrishna | Telugu |
| 1993 | Awaara | Gayatri Chatterji | English |
| 1992 | Athmanindayude Pookal | Dr. Aravindan Vallchira | Malayalam |
| 1991 | Hindi Cinema ki Itihaas | Manomohan Chandha | Hindi |
| 1990 | 1.Shatranj Ke Khiladi | Surendranath Tiwari | Hindi |
| 2.Cinema, Kannakkum Kavithayum | Sreekumaran Thampi | Malayalam | |
| 1989 | Moving Image | Kishore Vallicha | English |
| 1988 | Kazhchayude Assanthi | Dr. V. Rajakrishnan | Malayalam |
| 1987 | Rabindranath O Chalachithra | Arun Kumar Roy | Bengali |
| 1986 | Gurudutt Teen Anki Shonkat Iki | Arun Khopkar | Marathi |
| 1985 | Chalachitrer Abirbhab | Jagannath Chathopadhyay | Bengali |
| 1984 | Cinemayude Lokam | Adoor Gopalakrishnan | Malayalam |
| 1983 | Chalachitra Sameeksha | Vijaya Krishanan | Malayalam |
| 1982 | Thamizh Cinemavin Kathai | Aranthai Narayanan | Tamil |