Only 21 performances in Hindi films have won the National Award for Best Actor. Bollywood legend Amitabh Bachchan has won the most number of awards for his performance in films like Agneepath, Black and Paa.
Sanjeev Kumar, Om Puri, Naseeruddin Shah and Ajay Devgn are the only actors to win 2 awards each.
The iconic trio of Shahrukh Khan, Salman Khan and Aamir Khan have never won a National Award. Shahrukh came close in 2003, but his performance in Swades was overlooked and Saif Ali Khan’s performance in Hum Tum was declared the winner.
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Hrithik Roshan too was expected to win the National Award for his incredible act in Koi Mil Gaya, but Tamil actor Vikram won the award that year for his film Pithamagan.
Aamir has probably been the unluckiest of the lot when it comes to National Awards.
Check out the full list of winners below.
| Year | Actor | Movie |
|---|---|---|
| 1968 | Ashok Kumar | Aashirwad |
| 1969 | Utpal Dutt | Bhuvan Shome |
| 1970 | Sanjeev Kumar | Dastak |
| 1972 | Sanjeev Kumar | Koshish |
| 1974 | Sadhu Meher | Ankur |
| 1976 | Mithun Chakraborty | Mrigayaa |
| 1979 | Naseeruddin Shah | Sparsh |
| 1981 | Om Puri | Arohan |
| 1983 | Om Puri | Ardh Satya |
| 1984 | Naseeruddin Shah | Paar |
| 1985 | Shashi Kapoor | New Delhi Times |
| 1990 | Amitabh Bachchan | Agneepath |
| 1994 | Nana Patekar | Krantiveer |
| 1998 | Ajay Devgn | Zakhm |
| 2000 | Anil Kapoor | Pukar |
| 2002 | Ajay Devgn | The Legend of Bhagat Singh |
| 2004 | Saif Ali Khan | Hum Tum |
| 2005 | Amitabh Bachchan | Black |
| 2009 | Amitabh Bachchan | Paa |
| 2012 | Irrfan Khan | Paan Singh Tomar |
| 2013 | Rajkummar Rao | Shahid |
| 2015 | Amitabh Bachchan | Piku |
| 2016 | Akshay Kumar | Rustom |
MSN don’t see day dreams yaar