| Year | Film | Director | Producer |
| 2010 | Kutty Srank (Malayalam) | Shaji N. Karun | Reliance Big Pictures |
| 2009 | Antaheen (Bengali) | Aniruddha Roy Chowdhury | Screenplay Films Pvt. Ltd. |
| 2008 | Kanchivaram (Tamil) | Priyadarshan | Percept Picture Company |
| 2007 | Pulijanmam (Malayalam) | Priyanandanan | M. G. Vijay |
| 2006 | Kaalpurush-Memories in the Mist (Bengali) | Buddhadeb Dasgupta | Jugal Sughand |
| 2005 | Page 3 (Hindi, English) | Madhur Bhandarkar | Bobby Pushkarna |
| 2004 | Shwaas (Marathi) | Sandeep Sawant | Arun Nalawade |
| 2003 | Mondo Meyer Upakhyan (Bengali) | Buddhadeb Dasgupta | Arya Bhattacharya |
| 2002 | Dweepa (Kannada) | Girish Kasaravalli | Soundarya |
| 2001 | Shantham (Malayalam) | Jayaraj | P. V. Gangadharan |
| 2000 | Vanaprastham (Malayalam) | Shaji N. Karun | Mohanlal |
| 1999 | Samar (Hindi) | Shyam Benegal | Shyam Benegal, Sahyadri Films &National Film Development Corporation |
| 1998 | Thaayi Saheba (Kannada) | Girish Kasaravalli | Jayamala |
| 1997 | Lal Darja (Bengali) | Buddhadeb Dasgupta | Chitrani Lahiri & Dulal Roy |
| 1996 | Kathapurushan (Malayalam) | Adoor Gopalakrishnan | Adoor Gopalakrishnan |
| 1995 | Unishe April (Bengali) | Rituparno Ghosh | Rituparno Ghosh |
| 1994 | Charachar (Bengali) | Buddhadeb Dasgupta | Gita Gope & Shankar Gope |
| 1993 | Bhagwat Geeta (Sanskrit) | G. V. Iyer | T. Subbarami Reddy |
| 1992 | Agantuk (Bengali) | Satyajit Ray | National Film Development Corporation |
| 1991 | Marupakkam (Tamil) | K. S. Sethumadhavan | National Film Development Corporation |
| 1990 | Bagh Bahadur (Bengali) | Buddhadeb Dasgupta | Buddhadeb Dasgupta |
| 1989 | Piravi (Malayalam) | Shaji N. Karun | Film Folks |
| 1988 | Halodhia Choraye Baodhan Khai (Assamese) | Jahnu Barua | Sailadhar Barua & Jahnu Barua |
| 1987 | Tabarana Kathe (Kannada) | Girish Kasaravalli | Girish Kasaravalli |
| 1986 | Chidambaram (Malayalam) | Govindan Aravindan | Govindan Aravindan |
| 1985 | Damul (Hindi) | Prakash Jha | Prakash Jha Productions |
| 1984 | Adi Shankaracharya (Sanskrit) | G. V. Iyer | National Film Development Corporation |
| 1983 | Chokh (Bengali) | Utpalendu Chakrabarty | Department of Information and Cultural Affairs India & Government of West Bengal |
| 1982 | Dakhal (Bengali) | Gautam Ghose | West Bengal Film Industry |
| 1981 | Akaler Shandhaney (Bengali) | Mrinal Sen | D. K. Films |
| 1980 | Shodh (Hindi) | Biplab Roy Choudhary | Sitakant Misra |
| 1979 | No Award | - | - |
| 1978 | Ghatashraddha (Kannada) | Girish Kasaravalli | Sadanand Suvarna |
| 1977 | Mrigayaa (Hindi) | Mrinal Sen | Uday Bhaskar International |
| 1976 | Chomana Dudi (Kannada) | B. V. Karanth | Praja Films |
| 1975 | Chorus (Bengali) | Mrinal Sen | Mrinal Sen Productions |
| 1974 | Nirmalyam (Malayalam) | M. T. Vasudevan Nair | M. T. Vasudevan Nair |
| 1973 | Swayamvaram (Malayalam) | Adoor Gopalakrishnan | Adoor Gopalakrishnan |
| 1972 | Seemabaddha (Bengali) | Satyajit Ray | Bharat Shamsher and Jung Bahadur Rana |
| 1971 | Samskara (Kannada) | Pattabhi Rama Reddy | Ramamanohara Chitra |
| 1970 | Bhuvan Shome (Hindi) | Mrinal Sen | Mrinal Sen Productions |
| 1969 | Goopy Gyne Bagha Byne (Bengali) | Satyajit Ray | Nepal Dutta & Asim Dutta |
| 1968 | Hatey Bazarey (Bengali, Hindi) | Tapan Sinha | Asim Dutta |
| 1967 | Teesri Kasam (Hindi) | Basu Bhattacharya | Shailendra |
| 1966 | Chemmeen (Malayalam) | Ramu Kariat | Babu Ismail Settu |
| 1965 | Charulata (Bengali) | Satyajit Ray | R. D. Bansal |
| 1964 | Shehar Aur Sapna (Hindi) | Khwaja Ahmad Abbas | Naya Sansar |
| 1963 | Dada Thakur (Bengali) | Sudhir Mukherjee | Shyamlal Jalan |
| 1962 | Bhagini Nivedita (Bengali) | Bijoy Bose | Aurora Film Corporation |
| 1961 | Anuradha (Hindi) | Hrishikesh Mukherjee | Hrishikesh Mukherjee & L. B. Thakur |
| 1960 | Apur Sansar (Bengali) | Satyajit Ray | Satyajit Ray Productions |
| 1959 | Sagar Sangamey (Bengali) | Debaki Bose | De Luxe Film Distributors Ltd |
| 1958 | Do Aankhen Barah Haath (Hindi) | V. Shantaram | V. Shantaram |
| 1957 | Kabuliwala (Bengali) | Tapan Sinha | Charuchitra |
| 1956 | Pather Panchali (Bengali) | Satyajit Ray | Government of West Bengal |
| 1955 | Mirza Ghalib (Hindi) | Sohrab Modi | Sohrab Modi |
| 1954 | Shyamchi Aai (Marathi) | Pralhad Keshav Atre | Pralhad Keshav Atre |