Renowned Tamil superstar Rajinikanth, whom his millions of fans call Thalaiva, was on Thursday chosen for the prestigious Dadasaheb Phalke Award.
The 70-year-old actor’s name was announced for the highest cinema honour in the country named after the father of Indian cinema by Information and Broadcasting Minister Prakash Javadekar.
“Happy to announce Dadasaheb Phalke award for 2019 to one of the greatest actors in the history of Indian cinema Rajinikanthji. His contribution as actor, producer and screenwriter has been iconic,” Mr Javadekar tweeted.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi took to his Twitter handle to congratulate Rajinikanth on the honour.
“Popular across generations, a body of work few can boast of, diverse roles and an endearing personality…that’s Shri Rajinikanthji for you. It is a matter of immense joy that Thalaiva has been conferred with the Dadasaheb Phalke Award. Congratulations to him,” he wrote.
Just like the National Film Awards, the Dadasaheb Phalke Awards also got postponed by a year owing to the COVID-19 pandemic.
The 51st Phalke award for the year 2019 will be presented to Rajinikanth on May 3.
The jury that selected Rajinikanth for the award included singers Asha Bhosle and Shankar Mahadevan, actors Mohanlal and Biswajeet, and filmmaker Subhash Ghai.
Mohnish Singh
