| Year | Film | Language | Director |
| 1953 | Shyamchi Aai | Marathi | P.K.Atre |
| 1954 | Mirza Ghalib | Hindi | Sohrab Modi |
| 1955 | Pather Panchali | Bengali | Satyajit Ray |
| 1956 | Kabuliwala | Bengali | Tapan Sinha |
| 1957 | Do Aankhen Barah Haath | Hindi | V. Shantaram |
| 1958 | Sagar Sangame | Bengali | Debaki Kumar Bose |
| 1959 | Apur Sansar | Bengali | Satyajit Ray |
| 1960 | Anuradha | Hindi | Hrishikesh Mukherjee |
| 1961 | Bhagini Nivedita | Bengali | Bijoy Bose |
| 1962 | Dada Thakur | Bengali | Sudheer Mukherjee |
| 1963 | Shehar Aur Sapna | Hindi | Khwaja Ahmad Abbas |
| 1964 | Charulata | Bengali | Satyajit Ray |
| 1965 | Chemmeen | Malayalam | Ramu Kariat |
| 1966 | Teesri Kasam | Hindi | Basu Bhattacharya |
| 1967 | Hatey Bazarey | Bengali | Tapan Sinha |
| 1968 | Goopy Gyne Bagha Byne | Bengali | Satyajit Ray |
| 1969 | Bhuvan Shome | Hindi | Mrinal Sen |
| 1970 | Samskara | Kannada | Pattabhi Rama Reddy |
| 1971 | Seemabaddha | Bengali | Satyajit Ray |
| 1972 | Swayamvaram | Malayalam | Adoor Gopalakrishnan |
| 1973 | Nirmalyam | Malayalam | M.T. Vasudevan Nair |
| 1974 | Chorus | Bengali | Mrinal Sen |
| 1975 | Chomana Dudi | Kannada | B.V. Karanth |
| 1976 | Mrigayaa | Hindi | Mrinal Sen |
| 1977 | Ghatashraddha | Kannada | Girish Kasaravalli |
| 1978 | No Award | | |
| 1979 | Shodh | Hindi | Biplab Roy Choudhary |
| 1980 | Akaler Sandhane | Bengali | Mrinal Sen |
| 1981 | Dakhal | Bengali | Gautam Ghose |
| 1982 | Chokh | Bengali | Utpalendu Chakrabarty |
| 1983 | Adi Shankaracharya | Sanskrit | G. V. Iyer |
| 1984 | Damul | Hindi | Prakash Jha |
| 1985 | Chidambaram | Malayalam | Govindan Aravindan |
| 1986 | Tabarana Kathe | Kannada | Girish Kasaravalli |
| 1987 | Halodhia Choraye Baodhan Khai | Assamese | Jahnu Barua |
| 1988 | Piravi | Malayalam | Shaji N. Karun |
| 1989 | Bagh Bahadur | Hindi | Budhdhadeb Dasgupta |
| 1990 | Marupakkam | Tamil | K.S. Sethumadhavan |
| 1991 | Agantuk | Bengali | Satyajit Ray |
| 1992 | Bhagwat Geeta | Sanskrit | G. V. Iyer |
| 1993 | Charachar | Bengali | Budhdhadeb Dasgupta |
| 1994 | Unishe April | Bengali | Rituparno Ghosh |
| 1995 | Kathapurushan | Malayalam | Adoor Gopalakrishnan |
| 1996 | Lal Darja | Bengali | Budhdhadeb Dasgupta |
| 1997 | Thai Saheba | Kannada | Girish Kasaravalli |
| 1998 | Samar | Hindi | Shyam Benegal |
| 1999 | Vaanaprastham | Malayalam | Shaji N. Karun |
| 2000 | Shantham | Malayalam | Jayaraj |
| 2001 | Dweepa | Kannada | Girish Kasaravalli |
| 2002 | Mondo Meyer Upakhyan | Bengali | Budhdhadeb Dasgupta |
| 2003 | Shwaas | Marathi | Sandeep Sawant |
| 2004 | Page 3 | Hindi/English | Madhur Bhandarkar |
| 2005 | Kaalpurush – Memories in the Mist | Bengali | Budhdhadeb Dasgupta |
| 2006 | Pulijanmam | Malayalam | Priyanandan |
| 2007 | Kanchivaram | Tamil | Priyadarshan |