Rajinikanth to be honoured with 51st Dadasaheb Phalke Award

Superstar Rajinikanth will be conferred with the 51st Dadasaheb Phalke Award. The award was announced by Union Minister Prakash Javadekar on Thursday.

 

He took to Twitter to make a congratulatory tweet for Thalaiva. “Happy to announce #Dadasaheb Phalke award for 2020 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” (sic).

 

 Rajinikanth made his debut in 1975 with K Balachander's Apoorva Ragangal and has completed over 45 years in Kollywood. Rajinikanth is the 12th South Indian to get this award.

 

The Dadasaheb Phalke Award is India's highest film honour. The jury this year for the prestigious award included playback icon Asha Bhosle, director-producer Subhash Ghai, Malayalam superstar Mohanlal, music composer and singer Shankar Mahadevan and Biswajeet Chatterjee. The prestigious award is named after the father of Indian cinema, Dhundiraj Govind Phalke, and was instituted in 1969. The award is conferred by the government for outstanding contribution to the growth and development of Indian Cinema.

 

The award is comprised of a Golden Lotus and a cash prize of Rs 10 lakh. The most recent recipient of the award is actor Amitabh Bachchan.

 

Rajinikanth, who is currently working on Annaatthe,  announced entry into politics on 31 December 2017 and confirmed his intention to contest in the 2021 Tamil Nadu Legislative Assembly elections in all 234 constituencies. However, on December 2020,  he announced that he will not enter electoral politics citing health reasons.