Dadasaheb Phalke Award

• 01 Apr 2021

• Superstar Rajinikanth will be conferred with the prestigious Dadasaheb Phalke Award for the year 2019.
• Shivaji Rao Gaekwad, known professionally as Rajinikanth, is primarily works in Tamil cinema. In addition to acting, he has also worked as a producer and screenwriter.
• K. Balachander's 1975 Tamil drama Apoorva Raagangal was his debut film.
• Among other notable awards, he is honored with the Padma Bhushan (2000) and the Padma Vibhushan (2016) by the Government of India.
• Prior to Rajinikanth, in 2018, Amitabh Bachchan was conferred this award.
• The first recipient of this award was Devika Rani in 1969.
• The Dadasaheb Phalke Award is India's highest award in cinema presented annually at the National Film Awards ceremony by the Directorate of Film Festivals, an organisation set up by the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting for "outstanding contribution to the growth and development of Indian cinema".
• The award was introduced by the Government of India to commemorate the contribution of Dadasaheb Phalke - regarded as "the father of Indian cinema" - who directed India's first full-length feature film, Raja Harishchandra in 1913.