Actor-politician Mithun Chakraborty will receive the prestigious Dadasaheb Phalke Award, India's highest film honour.
Veteran actor-politician Mithun Chakraborty will be honoured with the prestigious Dadasaheb Phalke Award, India's highest film honour, for the year 2022. The Information & Broadcasting Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw, on Monday, September 30, made the announcement for Mithun on X (formerly known as Twitter).
He wrote, "Mithun Da’s remarkable cinematic journey inspires generations! Honored to announce that the Dadasaheb Phalke Selection Jury has decided to award legendary actor, Sh. Mithun Chakraborty Ji for his iconic contribution to Indian Cinema."
The three-time National Award winner will receive the award on October 8 at the 70th National Film Awards ceremony.
Mithun Chakraborty, 74, a former Trinamool Rajya Sabha, was awarded the Padma Bhushan, India's third-highest civilian honour earlier this year.
Mithun is over the moon on receiving the honour. He told ANI that he has no language to express how he feels.
He added, "I come from the bylanes of Kolkata; I have risen from footpaths. A boy from such a place winning such an honour...I could not have imagined this. I am extremely happy. I dedicate this to my family and my fans across the world."
Social media is flooded with congratulatory messages for the actor. PM Narendra Modi also congratulated Mithun on the honour.
He wrote, “Delighted that Shri Mithun Chakraborty Ji has been conferred the prestigious Dadasaheb Phalke Award, recognizing his unparalleled contributions to Indian cinema. He is a cultural icon, admired across generations for his versatile performances. Congratulations and best wishes to him.”
To his credit, Mithun has over 350 films in Hindi, Bengali, Bhojpuri, Odia, Telugu, and Tamil. He was one of the popular actors in the 80s and 90s. Some of his great works include Mrigayaa, Disco Dancer, Ek Aur Sikander, Phool Aur Angaar, Gunda and The Tashkent Files among others.
Dadasaheb Phalke Award was first presented in 1969. Devika Rani was the first celeb to be honoured with the prestigious award. Last year, veteran actress Waheeda Rehman received it. Here's the list of the celebs who have been conferred with the Dadasaheb Phalke Award so far.
Devika Rani: 1969
Birendranath Sircar: 1970
Prithviraj Kapoor: 1971
Pankaj Mullick: 1972
Ruby Myers: 1973
Bommireddy Narasimha Reddy: 1974
Dhirendra Nath Ganguly: 1975
Kanan Devi: 1976
Nitin Bose: 1977
Raichand Boral: 1978
Sohrab Modi: 1979
Paidi Jairaj: 1980
Naushad: 1981
LV Prasad: 1982
Durga Khote: 1983
Satyajit Ray: 1984
V Shantaram: 1985
B Nagi Reddy: 1986
Raj Kapoor: 1987
Ashok Kumar: 1988
Lata Mangeshkar: 1989
Akkineni Nageswara Rao: 1990
Bhalji Pendharkar: 1991
Bhupen Hazarika: 1992
Majrooh Sultanpuri: 1993
Dilip Kumar: 1994
Rajkumar: 1995
Sivaji Ganesan: 1996
Kavi Pradeep: 1997
BR Chopra: 1998
Hrishikesh Mukherjee: 1999
Asha Bhosle: 2000
Yash Chopra: 2001
Dev Anand: 2002
Mrinal Sen: 2003
Adoor Gopalakrishnan: 2004
Shyam Benegal: 2005
Tapan Sinha: 2006
Manna Dey: 2007
VK Murthy: 2008
D Ramanaidu: 2009
K Balachander: 2010
Soumitra Chatterjee: 2011
Pran: 2012
Gulzar: 2013
Shashi Kapoor: 2014
Manoj Kumar: 2015
Kasinathuni Viswanath: 2016
Vinod Khanna: 2017
Amitabh Bachchan: 2018
Rajinikanth: 2019
Asha Parekh: 2020
Waheeda Rehman: 2021