New Delhi: Megastar Rajinikanth will be conferred with the prestigious Dadasaheb Phalke Award for his stupendous 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 the history of Indian cinema Rajnikant ji," Javadekar tweeted.
Speaking about the 'Robot' actor's contribution as an actor, producer, and screenwriter, Javadekar added, "His contribution as actor, producer and screenwriter has been iconic I thank Jury @ashabhosle@SubhashGhai1@Mohanlal @Shankar_Live#BiswajeetChatterjee."
Veteran singers Asha Bhosle and Shankar Mahadevan, actors Mohanlal and Biswajeet, and filmmaker Subhash Ghai are members of the jury that selected Rajinikanth for the award.
The Dadasaheb Phalke 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 Dadasaheb Phalke, awarded for excellence in cinematic achievement, is the highest honour in the film world and is awarded by the government. The recipient of the 2018 award was Amitabh Bachchan, Rajinikanth's co-star from 'Hum'.
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 delivered hit films 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'.
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Dhundiraj Govind Phalke, popularly known as Dadasaheb Phalke (30 April 1870 – 16 February 1944), was an Indian producer-director-screenwriter, known as the Father of Indian cinema. His debut film, Raja Harishchandra, was the first Indian movie in 1913 and is now known as India's first full-length feature film.
He made 95 feature-length films and 27 short films in his career, spanning 19 years, until 1937, including his most noted works: Mohini Bhasmasur (1913), Satyavan Savitri (1914), Lanka Dahan (1917), Shri Krishna Janma (1918) and Kaliya Mardan (1919).
The award is for the year 2019.
The Dadasaheb Phalke Award, awarded for lifetime contribution to cinema by the Government of India, is named in his honour.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi Prime Minister Narendra Modi congratulated megastar Rajinikanth after it was announced that he will be conferred with the prestigious Dadasaheb Phalke Award for 2019 for his stupendous contribution to the world of Indian cinema.
Taking to Twitter, PM Modi commented that 'Thalaiva' had a body of work few can boast of, along with diverse roles and an endearing personality.
"Popular across generations, a body of work few can boast of, diverse roles and an endearing personality...that's Shri @rajinikanth Ji for you. It is a matter of immense joy that Thalaiva has been conferred with the Dadasaheb Phalke Award. Congratulations to him," he tweeted.
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