most number of national awards for best actress
National Film Award for Best Actress The first recipient was Nargis Dutt from Bollywood, who was honoured at the 15th National Film Award (1968) for her performance in Raat Aur Din.[6] The actress who won the most number of Rajat Kamal awards is Shabana Azmi with five wins,[7] followed by Sharada with three. As of 2016, five actresses—Smita Patil, Archana, Shobana, Tabu, and Kangana Ranaut—have won the award two times. Sharada, Archana and Shobana are the only three actresses to get the award for performing in two different languages. Sharada was bestowed with the awards for her performances in two Malayalam films: Thulabharam and Swayamvaram in 1970 and 1973 respectively, and in 1979 for the Telugu film Nimajjanam. Archana was first honoured in 1988 for the Tamil film Veedu and was awarded for the second time in 1989 for the Telugu film Daasi. Shobana received her first award for the Malayalam film Manichitrathazhu in 1994, and her second for the English film Mitr, My Friend in 2002. As of 2016, the late Monisha Unni remains the youngest recipient of the honour; she was awarded for the Malayalam film Nakhakshathangal in 1987 when she was 16.[8][9] Indrani Haldar and Rituparna Sengupta are the only two actresses to be honoured for the same film.