Dadasaheb Phalke Award for Amitabh Bachchan

India’s highest honour in cinema, the Dadasaheb Phalke Award, has been awarded this year to the legendary actor Amitabh Bachchan. Prakash Javadekar, the Minister of Information and Broadcasting, made the announcement today.
The Dadasaheb Phalke Award is usually presented with the National Film Awards. Amitabh Bachchan’s government honours include the Padma Shri, Padma Bhushan, Padma Vibhushan and four National Awards.
“The legend Amitabh Bachchan who entertained and inspired for two generations has been selected unanimously for the Dadasaheb Phalke award. The entire country and international community is happy. My heartiest congratulations to him,” Javadekar tweeted.
The Dadasaheb Phalke Award comprises a Swarna Kamal medallion, a shawl and a cash prize of Rs 10 lakh. The last recipient of the award was actor Vinod Khanna who received the honour posthumously in 2017.
Devika Rani was presented the first Dadasaheb Phalke award in 1969, the same year Amitabh made his acting debut in Saat Hindustani. So far, there have been 50 recipients of the award. The luminaries includes Prithviraj Kapoor (1971), Satyajit Ray (1984), Raj Kapoor (1987), Lata Mangeshkar (1989), Dilip Kumar (1994), Sivaji Ganesan (1996), Yash Chopra (2001), Mrinal Sen (2003), Adoor Gopalakrishnan (2004) and others.