Rajinikanth honoured with Dadasaheb Phalke Award

New Delhi: Tamil Superstar Rajinikanth has been honoured with the 51st Dadasaheb Phalke Award. The Award jury comprised Asha Bhonsle, Mohanlal, Subhash Ghai, Biswajeet Chatterjee and Shankar Mahadevan.

The Superstar took to Twitter to share a long note in Tamil, expressing his profound gratitude at the honour. Rajinikanth wrote, “I wholeheartedly thank the Central Government and Prime Minister Narendra Modi for conferring me Dadasaheb Phalke Award, the highest award in the Indian Film Industry. I thank my bus driver and friend Raj Bahadur who discovered my acting talent and encouraged me, my brother Sathyanarayana Rao Gaekwad who sacrificed a lot while we were struggling in poverty to make me an actor, my guru K. Balachander for creating ‘the Rajinikanth.’ I also thank my directors, producers, distributors, technicians, theatre owners, media, and Tamil people who have given me life. I dedicate this award to my fans across around the world. I thank Chief Minister Edappadi K. Palaniswami, Deputy Chief Minister O. Pannerselvam, opposition leader and my friend M.K. Stalin, my friend Kamal Haasan, other State and Central leaders, industry friends, and my well-wishers. Long Live Tamils, May Tamil Nadu prosper,  Jai Hind!”

Rajinikanth, born as Shivaji Rao Gaekwad on Dec. 12, 1950, to Ramoji Rao and Jijabai, worked as a bus conductor in Bengaluru before embarking on his film journey. During his school days, Rajinikanth was so interested in acting that he took part in plays and then signed up for an acting course at Madras Film Institute. 

Rajinikanth had made his debut in the film industry with the 1975 K. Balachander movie ‘Apoorva Raagangal’. Post this, he was primarily seen essaying ‘negative’ roles in films. Many films followed, but it was the 1995 release ‘Baashha’, wherein Rajini played a crime leader, that catapulted him further into the path of super stardom. A little more than a decade later, the artiste set a new benchmark in Indian cinema with his 2007 movie ‘Sivaji’, which was the third Indian movie to join the ‘Rs. 100-Crore Club’ at the time.

In his illustrious career, Rajinikanth has won four Tamil Nadu State Film awards. He was awarded the prestigious Padma Bhushan in 2000, and was conferred with the Padma Vibhushan in 2016. Besides this, Rajinikanth was given the Centenary Award for Indian Film Personality of the Year at the 45th edition of International Film Festival held in Goa.

Apart from being an actor, Rajinikanth is also a producer and a screenwriter. In Dec. 2017, Rajinikanth had announced his decision to contest in the 2021 Tamil Nadu Legislative Assembly elections. Superstar Rajinikanth was last seen in 2020’s ‘Darbar’. He is currently filming his next ‘Annaatthe.’