| National Awards | Year | Winner | Occupation |
| 56th | 2008 | VK Murthy | cinematographer |
| 55th | 2007 | Manna Dey | singer |
| 54th | 2006 | Tapan Sinha | director |
| 53rd | 2005 | Shyam Benegal | director |
| 52nd | 2004 | Adoor Gopalakrishnan | director |
| 51st | 2003 | Mrinal Sen | director |
| 50th | 2002 | Dev Anand | actor, director, producer |
| 49th | 2001 | Yash Chopra | director, producer |
| 48th | 2000 | Asha Bhosle | singer |
| 47th | 1999 | Hrishikesh Mukherjee | director |
| 46th | 1998 | B.R. Chopra | director, producer |
| 45th | 1997 | Pradeep | lyricist |
| 44th | 1996 | Sivaji Ganesan | actor |
| 43rd | 1995 | Rajkumar | actor |
| 42nd | 1994 | Dilip Kumar | actor |
| 41st | 1993 | Majrooh Sultanpuri | lyricist |
| 40th | 1992 | Bhupen Hazarika | composer (music director) |
| 39th | 1991 | Bhalji Pendharkar | director, producer, writer |
| 38th | 1990 | Akkineni Nageswara Rao | actor |
| 37th | 1989 | Lata Mangeshkar | singer |
| 36th | 1988 | Ashok Kumar | actor |
| 35th | 1987 | Raj Kapoor | actor, director |
| 34th | 1986 | B. Nagi Reddy | producer |
| 33rd | 1985 | V. Shantaram | actor, director, producer |
| 32nd | 1984 | Satyajit Ray | director |
| 31st | 1983 | Durga Khote | actress |
| 30th | 1982 | L. V. Prasad | actor, director, producer |
| 29th | 1981 | Naushad Ali | composer (music director) |
| 28th | 1980 | Paidi Jairaj | actor, director |
| 27th | 1979 | Sohrab Modi | actor, director, producer |
| 26th | 1978 | Rai Chand Boral | composer, director |
| 25th | 1977 | Nitin Bose | cinematographer, director, writer, |
| 24th | 1976 | Kanan Devi | actress |
| 23rd | 1975 | Dhirendranath Ganguly | actor, director |
| 22nd | 1974 | Bomireddi Narasimha Reddy | director |
| 21st | 1973 | Ruby Myers (Sulochana) | actress |
| 20th | 1972 | Pankaj Mullick | composer (music director) |
| 19th | 1971 | Prithviraj Kapoor | actor (posthumous) |
| 18th | 1970 | B. N. Sircar | producer |
| 17th | 1969 | Devika Rani | actress |