And the national award for best actress goes to.....Kangana Ranaut! Her fourth national award and third in the best actress category. A must to revisit some Bollywood heroines who’ve been awarded the coveted award in the past. Now these awards are awarded taking into account all the language films in the country and that makes it all the more tough to win it, but some of the winners haven’t been controversy free. Here’s a look at Ten Bollywood stars who won the National Award for best actress (also known as the Urvashi Award)
Magnanimously talented Nargis Dutt is the first Bollywood actress to have won the national award, she won it for Raat Aur Din(1967) where she portrayed a middle aged woman suffering from dissociative identity disorder wherein she’s a docile housewife during the day and transforms into a nightclub crooner at night.
Rehana Sultan an FTII graduate won the award for her very first movie Dastak(1970) where she played Salma, a newly married woman who shifts into a room which was previously inhabited by a prostitute. Sultan’s impressive act and pitch perfect diction won accolades in this movie though her career didn’t progress further.
Waheeda Rehman was already a veteran of over fifty films and in a transition phase from leading lady to character artist when she was duly awarded for her stellar performance in Reshma Aur Shera(1971), her sensitive act and effortless portrayal of a complex role truly deserved the honour that year. 
Not Kangana but Shabana is the most awarded actress in history of national awards. The supremely talented artist has won the best actress award for Ankur(1974), Arth(1982), Khandar(1983), Paar(1984) and Godmother(1998), whopping five awards and unbroken record. 
Smita during her lifetime won two national awards, for Bhumika(1977) and Chakra(1981). At 22 she has been the youngest recipient of the award in the best actress category. Had she lived longer she would’ve certainly garnered some more awards. 
It’s unfortunate that yesteryear’s superstar Sridevi won the national award posthumously. Her brilliant act as the revenge seeking step mom in Mom(2017) won her the best actress trophy but she wasn’t around to bask in the glory. 
Raveena Tandon’s win for Daman(1999) was controversial as it was alleged she got the award as her maternal uncle was a jury member and she had strong political connections. Nevertheless one can’t deny Tandon infused brilliance and class as the battered wife in the socially relevant movie.
Tabu regarded as one of the most versatile and talented actresses of all times has won the best actress award for Maachis(1996) and Chandni Bar(2001) and its so difficult to decide which was a better performance. 
The gorgeous Priyanka Chopra proved that beauty queens are not mere pretty faces when she won the best actress award for Fashion(2008) where she played a small town girl whose ambition and determination skyrocket her to supermodel stardom. She paved way for several models to try their luck in acting. 
Feisty, bold and outspoken Kangana has won four national awards out of which three are in the best actress category for Queen(2014), Tanu Weds Manu Returns(2015) and Manikarnika(2019). She has emerged as a force to reckon with, and critics have predicted that she may break Shabana’s record one day.
There are other leading ladies as well who were awarded best actress award specially when they tried to experiment with offbeat cinema in performance driven roles like Sharmila Tagore in Mausam(1975), Rekha in Umrao Jaan(1982) and Dimple in Rudaali(1992). And surprisingly there are a host of Bollywood actresses who were known for their acting histrionics and called “performers” and never won like Nutan, Meena Kumari, Jaya Bachchan, Vidya Sinha, Deepti Naval, Madhuri Dixit and Manisha Koirala.
All images courtesy: Yahoo Images
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