National Film Award for Best Female Playback Singer

The National Film Award for Best Female Playback Singer, officially known as the Rajat Kamal Award for the Best Female Playback Singer (Hindi pronunciation: [rədʒət̪ kəməl]), is an honour presented annually at the National Film Awards of India since 1968 to female playback singers for the best rendition of songs from soundtracks within the Indian film industry.[1] Called the "State Awards for Films" when established in 1954, the National Film Awards ceremony is older than the Directorate of Film Festivals. The State Awards instituted the individual award in 1969 as the "Award for the Best Female Playback Singer;" in 1975, it was renamed as the "Rajat Kamal Award for the Best Female Playback Singer."[1][2][3][4] Throughout the past 51 years, accounting for repeat winners, the Government of India has presented a total of 50 Best Female Playback Singer Awards to 28 singers. No award was given for this category in 1974.

Until 1973, winners of the National Film Award received a plaque.[3] From 1975–2006, they were awarded with a "Rajat Kamal" (Silver Lotus) certificate and a cash prize of ₹10,000 (US$140);[4][5] and since 2007, cash reward of ₹50,000 (US$700) alongside the certificate have been bestowed upon them.[6] Although the Indian film industry produces films in around 20 languages and dialects,[1] the singers whose performances have won awards have worked in nine major languages: Tamil (fourteen awards), Hindi (fourteen awards), Bengali (six awards),[lower-alpha 1] Telugu (six awards), Marathi (five awards),[lower-alpha 1] Malayalam (three awards), Assamese (one award), Konkani (one award) and Kannada (one award).

The first recipient was P. Susheela, who was honoured at the 16th National Film Awards in 1969 for her renditions in the Tamil film Uyarndha Manithan. The singer who won the most number of Rajat Kamal awards is K. S. Chithra with six wins, followed by Susheela with five. As of 2019, two singers—S. Janaki and Shreya Ghoshal—have won the award four times, and two—Lata Mangeshkar and Vani Jairam—have won it thrice. The award has been won twice by Asha Bhosle, Alka Yagnik and Arati Ankalikar-Tikekar. Janaki, Chithra and Ghoshal are the only singers to get the award for their works in films of three languages. Janaki was bestowed with the awards for her performances in two Tamil films: 16 Vayathinile and Thevar Magan in 1978 and 1993 respectively, in 1981 for the Malayalam film Oppol, and in 1985 for the Telugu film Sitaara. Chithra was honoured in 1986, 1997 and 2005 for the Tamil films Sindhu Bhairavi, Minsara Kanavu and Autograph respectively; in 1987 and 1989 for the Malayalam films Nakhakshathangal and Vaisali respectively; and in 1998 for the Hindi film Virasat. Ghoshal received her awards for the Hindi films Devdas, Paheli and Jab We Met in 2003, 2006 and 2008 respectively; was awarded for the fourth time in 2009 for both the Bengali film Antaheen and the Marathi film Jogwa. Susheela, Jairam and Ankalikar-Tikekar have each been awarded for their performances in films of two languages. Since her first win, Susheela bagged a second award for another Tamil film Savaale Samali in 1972, and three more in 1977, 1983 and 1984 for her songs in the Telugu films Siri Siri Muvva, Meghasandesam and M.L.A. Yedukondalu respectively. Jairam was rewarded on three occasions—in 1976 for the Tamil film Apoorva Raagangal, in 1979 for the Telugu film Sankarabharanam, and finally in 1992 for another Telugu film Swathi Kiranam. Apart from the being the only honoree to have been recognised for a Konkani film, Ankalikar-Tikekar—who was certified as the best female playback singer by the Directorate in 2007 for her contributions to the Konkani-language drama Antarnad—later joined the list of two-time winners of this award when the jury declared her the victor again in 2013 for her rendition of the song "Palakein Naa Moon Don" in the Marathi film Samhita. While Sandhya Mukhopadhyay and Ghoshal are the only awardees to have been recognised for their work in two films in the same year (Mukhopadhyay won in 1971 for her tracks from both the Bengali films Jay Jayanti and Nishi Padma), Ghoshal continues to be the sole vocalist to have achieved this accolade for excellence in singing in two films of different languages in a single year. Two-time consecutive winners of the Rajat Kamal include Mangeshkar, Susheela, Chithra (twice) and Ghoshal.

The late K. B. Sundarambal, who was 62 when she received the prize at the 17th National Film Awards in November 1970 for the Tamil film Thunaivan, holds the position of being the oldest recipient.[8][9] As of 2019, Uthara Unnikrishnan remains the youngest recipient of the Silver Lotus; she was presented with the award in May 2015 when she was 10, for her rendition of the song "Azhagu" in the Tamil film Saivam.[10] The most recent recipient is Bindhumalini Narayanaswamy, who was honoured at the 66th National Film Awards for her performance of the song "Maayavi Manave" in the 2018 film Nathicharami, marking the first occasion the Lotus went to a Kannada-language work.