| 1969 |
- Devika Rani - Actress |
| 1970 |
- B. N. Sircar - Producer |
| 1971 |
- Prithviraj Kapoor - Actor (posthumous) |
| 1972 |
- Pankaj Mullick - Composer (music director) |
| 1973 |
- Ruby Myers (Sulochana) - Actress |
| 1974 |
- Bomireddi Narasimha Reddy - Director |
| 1975 |
- Dhirendranath Ganguly - Actor, Director |
| 1976 |
- Kanan Devi - Actress |
| 1977 |
- Nitin Bose - Cinematographer, Director, writer |
| 1978 |
- Rai Chand Boral - Composer, Director |
| 1979 |
- Sohrab Modi - Actor, Director, Producer |
| 1980 |
- Paidi Jairaj - Actor, Director |
| 1981 |
- Naushad Ali - Composer (Music Director) |
| 1982 |
- L. V. Prasad - Actor, Director, Producer |
| 1983 |
- Durga Khote - Actress |
| 1984 |
- Satyajit Ray - Director |
| 1985 |
- V. Shantaram - Actor, Director, Producer |
| 1986 |
- B. Nagi Reddy - Producer |
| 1987 |
- Raj Kapoor - Actor, Director |
| 1988 |
- Ashok Kumar - Actor |
| 1989 |
- Lata Mangeshkar - Singer |
| 1990 |
- A. Nageswara Rao - Actor |
| 1991 |
- Bhalji Pendharkar - Director, Producer, Writer |
| 1992 |
- Bhupen Hazarika - Composer (Music Director) |
| 1993 |
- Majrooh Sultanpuri - Lyricist |
| 1994 |
- Dilip Kumar - Actor |
| 1995 |
- Dr. Rajkumar - Actor |
| 1996 |
- Sivaji Ganesan - Actor |
| 1997 |
- Pradeep - Lyricist |
| 1998 |
- B. R. Chopra - Director, Producer |
| 1999 |
- Hrishikesh Mukherjee - Director |
| 2000 |
- Asha Bhosle - Singer |
| 2001 |
- Yash Chopra - Director, Producer |
| 2002 |
- Dev Anand - Actor, Director, Producer |
| 2003 |
- Mrinal Sen - Director |
| 2004 |
- Adoor Gopalakrishnan - Director |
| 2005 |
- Shyam Benegal - Director |
| 2006 |
- Tapan Sinha - Director |
| 2007 |
- Manna Dey - Singer |
| 2008 |
- V. K. Murthy - Cinematographer |
| 2009 |
- D. Rama Naidu - Producer, Director |
| 2010 |
- K. Balchander - Director |
| 2011 |
- Soumitra Chatterjee - Actor |
| 2012 |
- Pran Sikand - Actor |
| 2013 |
- Gulzar - Lyricist, Writer, Director |
| 2014 |
- Shashi Kapoor - Actor, Film Maker |
| 2015 |
- Manoj Kumar - Actor, Director |
| 2016 |
- K. Vishwanath - Director, Screenwriter, Actor |
| 2017 |
- Vinod Khanna - Actor |
| 2018 |
- Amitabh Bachchan - Actor |