The Bollywood Megastar Amitabh Bachchan Selected for Dadasahed Phalke Award On Tuesday, Prakash Javadekar, Minister of Information and Broadcasting, announced the news on Twitter. “The legend Amitabh Bachchan, who entertained and inspired for two generations, has been selected unanimously for Dadasaheb Phalke Award. The entire country and the international community is happy. My heartiest congratulations to him,” Mr. Javadekar wrote in his tweet. Filmmaker Karan Johar and actor Anil Kapoor were the first celebs to congratulate Mr. Bachchan on Twitter. A tweet of congratulations also arrived from “proud son” Abhishek Bachchan, who wrote: “Overjoyed and so, so proud!
The legend Amitabh Bachchan who entertained and inspired for 2 generations has been selected unanimously for #DadaSahabPhalke award. The entire country and international community is happy. My heartiest Congratulations to him.@narendramodi @SrBachchan pic.twitter.com/obzObHsbLk
— Prakash Javadekar (@PrakashJavdekar) September 24, 2019
The award comprises of a Swarna Kamal (Golden Lotus) medallion, a shawl and a cash prize of Rs 10 lakh. Before Amitabh Bachchan, Vinod Khanna was selected for Dadasaheb Phalke Award in 2017. Kasinathuni Viswanath and Manoj Kumar got the same award in 2015 and 2016 respectively.
The first Dadasaheb Phalke Award was given to Devika Rani in 1969. Interestingly, this was the year when Amitabh Bachchan made his film debut as a narrator in Mrinal Sen’s Bhuvan Shome. It was the beginning of a great career for a person who would be known for his baritone voice and exceptional dialogue delivery in the coming years.