The Filmfare Award for Best Director is presented in Filmfare Awards to the director who with his/ her vision and intellect crafts the finest all-round Hindi motion picture. One of the principal Filmfare awards, it was introduced at the inception of the awards in 1954, to recognise and honour the work and craftsmanship of movie directors.

Prominent Records in Filmfare Award for Best Director
The Filmfare Award for Best Director has been presented maximum number of times to noted realistic and socialistic film director Bimal Roy, who was nominated in the category 7 times and had won each time. He was recognised with the award for his works in the 50s and early 60s comprising "Do Bigha Zamin", "Parineeta", "Madhumati", "Sujata" and others. He also holds the distinctive record of winning the award three years in a row on two separate occasions (from 1954 to 1956 and 1959 to 1961).

Prominent Hindi film industry directors Yash Chopra, Raj Kapoor and Sanjay Leela Bhansali have been conferred the award 4 times each. Yash Chopra holds the record for maximum number of nominations with 12. Raj Kapoor and Sanjay Leela Bhansali have been nominated a total of 6 times along with Mahesh Bhatt who has never won on any of the six occasions.

Sai Paranjpye and Zoya Akhtar are the only two women directors to have won this award, for their films "Sparsh" in 1985 and "Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara" in 2012.

Rajkumar Santoshi is the only director who has won the Best Director award for his very first two films, "Ghayal" in 1991 and "Damini" in 1994.

Filmfare Award for Best Director at 61st Filmfare Awards
The 61st edition of Filmfare Awards held in January, 2016, recognised 6 notable directors for their films of 2015. The nominees were Sanjay Leela Bhansali for "Bajirao Mastani", Kabir Khan for "Bajrangi Bhaijaan", Anand L. Rai for "Tanu Weds Manu Returns", Meghna Gulzar for "Talvar", Shoojit Sircar for "Piku" and Sriram Raghavan for "Badlapur".

The award was presented to Sanjay Leela Bhansali for the film "Bajirao Mastani", which is a beautiful and engaging portrayal of the love story of Maratha Peshwa (emperor) and warrior Baji Rao I and his second wife Mastani.

List of Winners of Filmfare Award for Best Director
The winning directors of the Filmfare Award for Best Director from 1990 to 2016 and their respective films are listed hereunder.