| Year | Film | Director |
| 2009 | Well Done Abba | Shyam Benegal |
| 2008 | Antardwand (Hindi) | Sushil Rajpal |
| 2007 | Hope (Telugu) | Satish Kasetty |
| 2006 | Iqbal (Hindi) | Nagesh Kukunoor |
| 2005 | Perumazhakkalam (Malayalam) | Kamal |
| 2004 | Koi Mil Gaya (Hindi) | Rakesh Roshan |
| 2003 | Swaraj (Hindi) | Anwar Jamal |
| 2002 | Chandni Bar (Hindi) | Madhur Bhandarkar |
| 2001 | 1. Vetri Kodi Kattu (Tamil) 2. Munnudi (Kannada) |
1. Cheran 2. P. Sheshadri |
| 2000 | Kairee (Hindi) | Amol Palekar |
| 1999 | Chinthavishtayaya Shyamala (Malayalam) | Sreenivasan |
| 1998 | Dhanna (Hindi) | Deepak Roy |
| 1997 | Tamanna (Hindi) | Mahesh Bhatt |
| 1996 | Doghi (Marathi) | Sumitra Bhave & Sunil Sukhthanker |
| 1995 | 1. Parinayam (Malayalam) 2. Wheel Chair (Bengali) |
1. Hariharan 2. Tapan Sinha |
| 1994 | 1. Janani (Hindi) 2. Narayam (Malayalam) |
1. Sanat Das Gupta 2. Sasi Shanker |
| 1993 | Neenga Nalla Irukkum (Tamil) | Visu |
| 1992 | Yamanam (Malayalam) | Bharath Gopi |
| 1991 | Oru Veedu Iru Vaasal (Tamil) | K. Balachander |
| 1990 | Unnikuttant Jolikitty (Malayalam) | V.R. Gopinath |
| 1989 | Main Zinda Hoon (Hindi) | Sudhir Mishra |
| 1988 | 1. Vedham Pudhithu (Tamil) 2. Ore Oru Gramathile (Tamil) |
1. Bharathiraja 2. Jyothi Pandian |
| 1987 | Doore Doore Koodu Koottam (Malayalam) | Siby Malayil |
| 1986 | no award | - |
| 1985 | Accident (Kannada) | Shankar Nag |