| Year |
Winner |
Film |
| 2006 |
Soumitra Chatterjee |
Podokkhep (Bengali) |
| 2005 |
Amitabh Bachchan |
Black (Hindi) |
| 2004 |
Saif Ali Khan |
Hum Tum (Hindi) |
| 2003 |
Vikram |
Pithamagan (Tamil) |
| 2002 |
Ajay Devgan |
The Legend of Bhagat Singh (Hindi) |
| 2001 |
Murali |
Neythukaran (Malayalam) |
| 2000 |
Anil Kapoor |
Pukar (Hindi) |
| 1999 |
Mohan Lal |
Vaanaprastham (Malayalam) |
| 1998 |
Ajay Devgan & Mamootty |
Zakhm (Hindi) & Babasaheb Ambedkar (Hindi) |
| 1997 |
Balachandran Menon & Suresh Gopi |
Kaliyattam (Malayalam)& Samaandharagal (Malayalam) |
| 1996 |
Kamal Hassan |
Indian (Tamil) |
| 1995 |
Rajit Kapur |
The Making Of Mahatma (English) |
| 1994 |
Nana Patekar |
Krantiveer (Hindi) |
| 1993 |
Mammootty |
Ponthan Mada & Vidheyan (Malayalam) |
| 1992 |
Mithun Chakraborty |
Tahader Katha (Bengali) |
| 1991 |
Mohanlal |
Bharatham (Malayalam) |
| 1990 |
Amitabh Bachchan |
Agneepath (Hindi) |
| 1989 |
Mammotty |
Mathilukal (Malayalam) |
| 1988 |
Premji |
Piravi (Malayalam) |
| 1987 |
Kamal Hassan |
Nayagan (Tamil) |
| 1986 |
Charu Haasan |
Tabarana Kathe (Kannada) |
| 1985 |
Shashi Kapoor |
New Delhi Times (Hindi) |
| 1984 |
Naseeruddin Shah |
Paar (Hindi) |
| 1983 |
Om Puri |
Ardh Satya (Hindi) |
| 1982 |
Kamal Hassan |
Moondram Pirai (Tamil) |
| 1981 |
Om Puri |
Aarohan (Hindi) |
| 1980 |
Balan Nair |
Oppol (Malayalam) |
| 1979 |
Naseeruddin Shah |
Sparsh (Hindi) |
| 1978 |
Arun Mukherjee |
Parshuram (Bengali) |
| 1977 |
Gopi |
Kodiyettam (Malayalam) |
| 1976 |
Mithun Chakraborty |
Mrigaya (Hindi) |
| 1975 |
M V Vasudeva Rao |
Chomana Dudi (Kannada) |
| 1974 |
Sadhu Meher |
Ankur (Hindi) |
| 1973 |
P J Anthony |
Nirmalayam (Malayalam) |
| 1972 |
Sanjeev Kumar |
Koshish (Hindi) |
| 1971 |
Rajesh Khanna |
Ittefaq (Hindi) |
| 1970 |
Sanjeev Kumar |
Dastak (Hindi) |
| 1969 |
Dilip Kumar |
Sagina Mahato (Bengali) |
| 1968 |
Ashok Kumar |
Aashirwad (Hindi) |
| 1967 |
Uttam Kumar |
Chidiakhana & Antony Firingee (Bengali) |
