15 Bollywood Stars You Didn’t Know Are National Award Winners

Amitabh Bachchan, Kamal Haasan, Shabana Azmi, Kangana Ranaut, Ajay Devgn! These would probably be the only few big names you know are National Awards winners. When it comes to being a recipient of unarguably the most hard earned film awards in the country, we tend to feel our mainstream Bollywood stars are far away from it. But that’s not all true! Did you know even Parineeti Chopra is a National Award winner? Yes she is and as it turns out, there are more stars other than her who you probably didn’t think were holding the biggest cinematic honor of the country.

Winning a National Award is as huge as winning an Academy for Indian film fraternity. Why do you think Shah Rukh Khan who has a record eight Filmfare Best Actor awards hasn’t found his luck yet with National Awards? While it’s totally understandable the jury has been kind of harsh on him, you still can’t take away the fact that these awards are extremely competent from all industries across the nation and bagging one is an asset one can be proud of. Regardless of these facts, there are a lot of popular faces who could earn this honor despite catering to the needs of our mainstream audience.

Here are 15 of our popular Bollywood stars who in their cinematic journey have won one or more National Awards in some way.

Aamir Khan: (Twice - Special Jury Mention, Best Film on Family Welfare)

The Khan you don’t find at any film award events has immense respect of National Awards. He came out on record to say he’d be honored to win one. Sadly, he hasn’t yet won a Best Actor award but he still has two in his kitty. Aamir won the special jury mention for his debut performance in the blockbuster Qayamat Se Qayamat Tak. Almost two decades later, he received a well-deserved reward for a different role when Taare Zameen Par was chosen the Best Film on Family Welfare. 

Anil Kapoor: (Best Actor)

Anil won the Best Actor Award for his performance in Pukar. The film that couldn’t really do pretty well otherwise gave Anil the biggest reward of his life.

Raveena Tandon: (Best Actress)

Having impressed a lot of critics and viewers around the globe with a lot of her performances, the ravishing Raveena Tandon won her first and only Best Actress National Award for her striking display of work in Kalpana Lajmi’s social drama ‘Daman’.

Mithun Chakraborty: (Thrice - 2 Best Actor Awards, 1 Best Supporting Actor Award)

Who could imagine the lead actor of ‘Gunda’ who used a bicycle to shield bullets, would be a three time National Award winner. Besides having the unwanted record of delivering most flops in a career, Mithun Da has 2 Best Actor Awards along with one Best Supporting Actor award. He won his first best actor award way back in 1976 for his performance in Mrigayaa followed by a breathtakingly awesome performance in Tahader Katha (A Bengali film in 1992). The Best Supporting Award he received was for his performance in the movie Swami Vivekanand.

Saif Ali Khan: (Best Actor)

While we may argue about the turn of events when he received his honor, fact is, Saif was indeed brilliant with his performance in Hum Tum. Only thing in question remains that how did he win a National Award the same year Shah Rukh delivered a performance like Mohan Bhargav of Swades. Anyway, good for Saif!

Shefali Shah: (Best Supporting Actress)

We know how strong an actress she is. The National Film Jury acknowledged it for her performance in The Last Lear. The same English film also had Big B, Priety Zinta alongside her.

Farhan Akhtar: (Best Hindi Film)

Somewhere in the course of evolution of Farhan Akhtar the actor, we lost Farhan the filmmaker.  The multi skilled man got his National Award Honor for his very first film itself when Dil Chahta Hai was adjudged the Best Hindi Film of 2001.

Nana Patekar: (Thrice - 1 Best Actor Award, 2 Best Supporting Actor Awards)

Turns out the very psycho performances for which he has been at the receiving end of a lot of jokes, gave him his 3 National Awards. Nana won his best actor award for the very successful Krantiveer followed by two Best Supporting Actor awards for his performances in Parinda and Agni Sakshi. Needless to say, Nana was a revelation in all these movies.

Sunny Deol: (Twice - Special Jury Award, Best Supporting Actor)

One of the biggest action heroes of our country won his first National Award recognition for one of his most successful and accomplished performnaces. Sunny received a Special Jury Mention for his portrayal of a helpless brother in Ghayal who under the agony of system goes rebellious. Just a few years later, he got the Best Supporting Actor for his extended cameo in Damini, the film that gave him the best of his dialogues.

Priyanka Chopra: (Best Actress)

She deserved this, didn’t she? The faces of the masses who at the moment is taking India beyond boundaries, got this honor for Madhur Bhandarkar’s Fashion that came out in 2008. The very performance Priyanka considers her best to date. Interestingly, Priyanka is the only Major Beauty Pageant winner to have won a National Award.

Paresh Rawal: (Best Supporting Actor)

Besides raising enough laughs for his audience throughout his career, the only National Award for Paresh Rawal came for a film that people most likely have never heard of – ‘Woh Chokri Sir’. The film had him play a very sensitive role.

Karishma Kapoor: (Best Supporting Actress)

No, it’s not ‘Zubeida’ or ‘Shakti :The Power’ that Karishma got her national award for. The actress bagged the honor for her performance in Yash Chopra’s Dil Toh Pagal Hai in 1997. Karishma was chosen the Best Supporting Actress despite a very stiff competition that year.

Arjun Rampal: (Best Supporting Actor)

Call him so expressionless all you want and he’d have a National Award to throw at your faces. The film that established Abhishek Kapoor as a director, Farhan Akhtar as singer and actor, also gave Arjun the honor he will forever be in debt for. Arjun was the best supporting actor and he won it for the fabulous ‘Rock On’.

Parineeti Chopra: (Special Jury Mention)

She swept away all major award shows with her debut performance and recently made news having won a Filmfare for losing weight. Well, away from the controversies, Parineeti Chopra bagged Special Jury Mention for her riveting acting in Ishaqzaade opposite Arjun Kapoor.

Karan Johar: (Best Film Providing Wholesome Entertainment)

The poster boy of virtually every award event in the country claims to have a lot of respect for National Awards. Though, he is yet to win one as a filmmaker. The only National Award that fell in his kitty was when his debut movie Kuch Kuch Hota Hai won the Best Film Providing Wholesome Entertainment. He got too close again after having made My Name Is Khan in 2010, but couldn’t get wish come true.

Have you all of a sudden started feeling National Awards aren’t really that big a deal? Well they are!