Superstar Rajinikanth will be bestowed with the prestigious Dadasaheb Phalke Award for his magnificent contribution in 2019 to the world of Indian cinema.
The news was announced by Union Minister for Information and Broadcasting Prakash Javadekar on Thursday. “Happy to announce #Dadasaheb Phalke award for 2020 to one of the greatest actors in history of Indian cinema Rajnikant ji,” Javadekar tweeted.
Happy to announce #Dadasaheb Phalke award for 2019 to one of the greatest actors in history of Indian cinema Rajnikant ji
His contribution as actor, producer and screenwriter has been iconic
I thank Jury @ashabhosle @SubhashGhai1 @Mohanlal@Shankar_Live #BiswajeetChatterjee pic.twitter.com/b17qv6D6BP
— Prakash Javadekar (@PrakashJavdekar) April 1, 2021
Speaking about the ‘Robot’ actor’s contribution, Javadekar added, “His contribution as actor, producer and screenwriter has been iconic I thank Jury @ashabhosle@SubhashGhai1@Mohanlal @Shankar_Live#BiswajeetChatterjee.”
The jury members veteran singers Asha Bhosle and singer-composer Shankar Mahadevan, actors Mohanlal and Biswajeet Chatterjee, and filmmaker Subhash Ghai selected Rajinikanth for the award for 2019.
The recipient of the 2018 award was Amitabh Bachchan, Rajinikanth’s co-star from ‘Hum’.
The Dadasaheb Phalke is awarded for excellence in cinematic achievement and is the highest honour in the Indian film world which is awarded by the Indian government. Though Award for 2019 should have been announced last year but was postponed because of the COVID-19 pandemic, as were the National Film Awards for 2019.
The 70-year-old star has featured in Bollywood as well as South Indian films and has a humongous fan following. The ‘2.0’ star had made his debut in 1975 with K Balachander’s ‘Apoorva Ragangal’ and has completed more than 45 years in the Tamil film industry. He has also been honoured with the Padma Bhushan in 2000 and Padma Vibhushan in 2016 by the Government of India.
He has delivered hit films both for hindi and south Indian platform. Has done wonderful movies such as ‘Billu’, ‘Muthu’, ‘Baashha’, ‘Sivaji’, and ‘Enthiran’. Rajinikanth was last seen in AR Murugadoss’s ‘Darbar’. Currently, he is shooting for his upcoming film ‘Annaatthe’.
– With ANI inputs.