Indian Superstar Rajinikanth was conferred with 51st Dadasaheb Phalke Award on Monday (Oct 25, 2021) for his outstanding contribution to the Indian Cinema. The award was presented by Vice-President M Venkaiah Naidu at the 67th National Film Awards held in New Delhi.

“I am extremely happy to receive this prestigious award and my heartfelt thanks to the Central government for honouring me with this most prestigious Dadasaheb Phalke Award,” the legendary actor said after accepting the award.

“I dedicate this award to my mentor, my guru K Balachander sir. This moment I remember him with great gratitude and my brother Satyanarayana Gaikwad who is like my father, who brought me up by teaching me great values and injecting spirituality in me and my friend in Karnataka, bus driver and colleague Raj Bahadur. When I was a bus conductor, he was one who identified the acting talent in me and encouraged me to join cinema,” Rajinikanth said.

Superstar also thanked all his movie producers, directors, film technicians and co-artists besides movie distributors, exhibitors and the media fraternity. “I thank all my fans and Tamil people, without them I am nobody,” the actor said.

The Dadasaheb Phalke Award is considered to be India’s highest film award and was first presented by the Indian Government in the year 1969 to commemorate the legendary producer-director Dadasaheb Phalke’s contribution to Indian cinema.

Lauding Mr. Rajinikanth, a matinee idol, Mr. Naidu observed that the former was “one of the great sons of this great country”. “The iconic thespian’s unmatchable acting skills have given a new dimension to the Indian film industry... He has shown how to maintain a perfect balance between artistic expression and mass appeal.”

In April this year, the Indian Government conferred the award upon Rajinikanth. Legendary actor Sivaji Ganesan was the first one in Kollywood to receive the prestigious award in 1997. He was followed by renowned director and Rajinikanth’s mentor K Balachander, who bagged the award in 2010.

Rajinikanth’s wife Latha, daughter Aishwarya and his son-in-law and actor Dhanush were present at the event.

The event also saw actor Dhanush being conferred with the National Film Award in the Best Actor category for his role in Asuran. He shared the award with Bollywood actor Manoj Bajpayee, who bagged the award for his performance in Bhonsle.

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."

See the actor's tweet here:actor's tweet here: