Superstar Rajinikanth was conferred with the 51st Dadasaheb Phalke award, the highest film honour in India, on Monday by Vice-President Venkaiah Naidu during the 67th National Film Awards presentation ceremony at New Delhi’s Vigyan Bhawan.
Rajinikanth dedicated this honour to his old bus driver friend, who had suggested that the actor try his shot in the film industry. The ‘Superstar’ used to work as a bus conductor before acting in movies. He also dedicated his award to late filmmaker K Balachander, who directed Rajinikanth’s first movie Apoorva Raagangal, his brother Sathyanarayana Rao, his friend Raj Bahadur, and his “directors, producers, distributors, theatre owners, technicians and fans.”
Rajinikanth attended the ceremony with his son-in-law, actor Dhanush, who won the National Film Award for Best Actor for his performance in Asuran. Rajinikanth’s wife Latha and their daughter Aishwarya, who is married to Dhanush, were also present at the event.
Rajinikanth took to Twitter on Sunday to share a statement about his reception of the Dadasaheb Phalke award, calling it one of the “two special landmarks.” “Tomorrow is an important occasion for me with two special landmarks. One, Dadasaheb Phalke Award, being conferred upon me by the Government of India because of the love and support of the people.”
A jury made up of singers Asha Bhosle and Shankar Mahadevan, actors Mohanlal and Biswajeet Chatterjee and filmmaker Subhash Ghai had chosen Rajinikanth for the honour earlier this year. Actor Biswajit Chatterjee said at the National Film Awards today that they picked Rajinikanth because he is a “talented” person and very “down-to-earth.”
Others who won the National Film Awards include Kangana Ranaut for Best Actress (Manikarnika and Panga), Manoj Bajpayee for Best Actor (Bhosle), and singer B Praak for Best Male Playback Singer (Teri Mitti from Kesari).
Meanwhile, Priyadarshan’s Malayalam period epic Marakkar: Lion of the Arabian Sea bagged the Best Feature Film title, while the award for the Best Hindi Film went to the Sushant Singh Rajput-starrer Chhichhore. Documentary Wild Karnataka took home two awards: Best Exploration Film and Best Narration for Sir David Attenborough, who was the film’s English narrator.
Vivek Agnihotri’s The Tashkent Files won the Best Dialogue award. Vivek’s wife Pallavi Joshi earned the Best Supporting Actress title for the same film.