Kollywood superstar Rajinikanth was conferred with 51st Dadasaheb Phalke Award on Monday 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.

The actor 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.

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

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