The Filmfare Best Director Award is given by the Filmfare magazine as part of its annual Filmfare Awards South for Tamil (Kollywood) films. The awards were extended to "Best Director" in 1972.^[1]

Superlatives

• K. Balachander has the record of winning most awards with 7 and winning the Award twice in a row, on two separate occasions (1974–1975 and 1980–1981). Mani Ratnam have received the award for five times which is the second most wins. Cheran have received the award four times.
• Sudha Kongara was the first of two women to have won this award for Irudhi Suttru in 2016, the second being Gayathri of Pushkar–Gayathri duo for Vikram Vedha in 2017. Other woman Director to have been nominated is Suhasini Maniratnam for Indira .
• S. Shankar remains the only Director to have won the Award for his first two films, Gentleman and Kadhalan .
• S. Shankar, Cheran , Bala , and Sasikumar are the four directors who have received the award for their first film.
• K. Balachander has most nominations with 18, followed by Bharathiraja and Mani Ratnam with 13.

Multiple nominations

• 18 nominations :K. Balachander
• 13 nominations :Bharathiraja, Mani Ratnam
• 9 nominations :S. Shankar
• 7 nominations :S. P. Muthuraman, Balu Mahendra, Vikraman
• 6 nominations :K. S. Ravikumar, A. R. Murugadoss
• 5 nominations :Singeetam Srinivasa Rao, K. Bhagyaraj, Cheran, Bala
• 4 nominations :Gautham Vasudev Menon, Vetrimaaran
• 3 nominations :Fazil, Mohan Raja, Vasanthabalan, P. Vasu, Selvaraghavan, Mahendran, Pa. Ranjith
• 2 nominations :P. Madhavan, C. V. Sridhar, A. C. Tirulokchandar, R. Sundarrajan, K. V. Anand, Manivannan, Atlee, Ram Kumar, Ameer Sultan, Prabhu Solomon, Hari, A. L. Vijay, Kamal Haasan, Balaji Sakthivel, Mysskin, Priyadarshan, Rajiv Menon, R. Parthiban, Sundar. C, A. Jagannathan, Sudha Kongara, Mari Selvaraj

Multiple wins

• 7 wins: K. Balachander
• 5 wins: Mani Ratnam
• 4 wins: Cheran
• 3 wins: S. Shankar, Bala
• 2 wins: Bharathiraja, S. P. Muthuraman, Vasanthabalan, Balu Mahendra, Sudha Kongara

Winners

Year	Photos of winners	Winners	Film	Ref(s).
1972		P. Madhavan	Gnana Oli	[2]
1973		A. C. Tirulokchandar	Bharatha Vilas	[3]
1974		K. Balachander	Aval Oru Thodar Kathai	[4]
1975		K. Balachander	Apoorva Raagangal	[5]
1976		S. P. Muthuraman	Oru Oodhappu Kan Simittugiradhu	[6]
1977		S. P. Muthuraman	Bhuvana Oru Kelvi Kuri	[7]
1978		Bharathiraja	Sigappu Rojakkal	[8]
1979		Mahendran	Uthiripookkal	[8]
1980		K. Balachander	Varumayin Niram Sivappu	[9]
1981		K. Balachander	Thanneer Thanneer	[10]
1982		Balu Mahendra	Moondram Pirai	[11]
1983		A. Jagannathan	Vellai Roja	[12]
1984		K. Balachander	Achamillai Achamillai	[13]
1985		Fazel	Poove Poochudava	[14] [15]
1986		Mani Ratnam	Mouna Raagam	[16][17]
1987		Bharathiraja	Vedham Puthithu	[18][19]
1988		Balu Mahendra	Veedu	[20]
1989		K.Balachander	Pudhu Pudhu Arthangal	[21][22]
1990		Mani Ratnam	Anjali	[23][24]
1991		Mani Ratnam	Thalapathi	[25]
1992		K.Balachander	Vaaname Ellai	[26]
1993		Shankar	Gentleman	[27][28]
1994		Shankar	Kadhalan	[29]
1995		Mani Ratnam	Bombay	[30]
1996		Agathiyan	Kadhal Kottai	[31]
1997		Cheran	Bharathi Kannamma
1998		Cheran	Desiya Geetham	[32]
1999		Bala	Sethu	[33]
2000		Rajiv Menon	Kandukondain Kandukondain	[34]
2001		Cheran	Pandavar Bhoomi	[35]
2002		Mani Ratnam	Kannathil Muthamittal	[36][37]
2003		Bala	Pithamagan	[38]
2004		Cheran	Autograph	[39]
2005		Shankar	Anniyan	[40]
2006		Vasanthabalan	Veyil	[41]
2007		Ameer Sultan	Paruthiveeran	[42]
2008		Sasikumar	Subramaniyapuram	[43]
2009		Priyadarshan	Kanchivaram	[44]
2010		Vasanthabalan	Angadi Theru
2011		Vetrimaaran	Aadukalam	[45]
2012		Balaji Sakthivel	Vazhakku Enn 18/9	[46]
2013		Bala	Paradesi	[47]
2014		A. R. Murugadoss	Kaththi	[48]
2015		mohan	Thani Oruvan	[49]
2016		Sudha Kongara	Irudhi Suttru	[50]
2017		Pushkar–Gayathri (Director Duo)	Vikram Vedha	[51]
2018		Ram Kumar	Ratsasan	[52]
2020-2021		Sudha Kongara	Soorarai Pottru	[53]

Nominations

References

External links

• 52nd Annual Awards