Super Star Rajinikanth was bestowed this year (2021) Dadasaheb Phalke Award. The Vice President of India gave away the award to the Tamil superstar, who made a huge impact on Indian cinema – from being a bus conductor and tranforming himself to being the most loved star on planet.
Rajinikanth after receiving the award dedicated it to his old bus days bus driver friend, who suggested that he join films. He also dedicated his Dadasaheb Phalke Award to late filmmaker K Balachander, who directed Rajinikanth’s first film Apoorva Raagangal, his brother Sathyanarayana Rao and his “directors, producers, theatre owners, technicians and fans.”
Rajinikanth attended the ceremony with his son-in-law 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 there.
A jury made up of singers Asha Bhosle and Shankar Mahadevan, actors Mohanlal and Biswajeet Chatterjee and filmmaker Subhash Ghai had selected Rajinikanth for the honour earlier this year. At the National Film Awards today, actor Biswajit Chatterjee said they selected Rajinikanth for the honour because he is a “talented” person and very “down to earth.”
On Sunday, Rajinikanth shared a statement on Twitter about receiving the award and called it one of the “two special landmarks” – the other one being his daughter Soundarya Vishagan’s new app named Hoote, which is to be launched this evening. In his statement, Rajinikanth wrote: “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.”
