Chennai, India (CU)_ The 70-year-old south Indian superstar actor Rajinikanth is one of India’s most well-known actors who is been ruling the Tamil cinema over four decades and has global recognition too. His debut movie was Tamil film Apoorva Ragangal released in 1975. He also performed in some of the blockbusters like Billa, Muthu, Baashha, Sivaji, and Enthiran. Rajinikanth has also appeared in a number of Bollywood films, including Hum and Chaalbaaz. His most recent films include Kaala, 2.0, Petta, and Darbar. Rajinikanth’s upcoming project is Annaatthe.
A great news came from the Minister of Information and Broadcasting, Prakash Javadekar, yesterday. The Union Minister announced that south Indian superstar Rajinikanth has won the country’s most prestigious film honor Dadasaheb Phalke Award for 2019. He tweeted, ” Happy to announce Dadasaheb Phalke award for 2019 to one of the greatest actors in the history of Indian cinema Rajnikant ji. His contribution as actor, producer and screenwriter has been iconic”.
Similar to the 2019 National Awards that was delayed due to the pandemic, the 2019 Dadasaheb Phalke Award, which was scheduled to be declared last year, was also postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic. According to the Union Minister’s tweet, singers Asha Bhosle and Shankar Mahadevan, actors Mohanlal and Biswajeet, and filmmaker Subhash Ghai were among the members of the jury that chose Rajinikanth for the award.
Concerning his political career, it was long been speculated that Rajinikanth will enter the politics. However, after being hospitalized for fluctuating blood pressure in December, Rajinikanth scrapped plans to start his own political party. He released a statement following his discharge from the hospital. He said, “With extreme sadness I say that I can’t enter politics. I alone know the pain I went through while announcing this decision. Without entering electoral politics, I will serve the people. This decision of mine will disappoint my fans and people but please forgive me.”
The Dadasaheb Phalke award is the highest honor granted by the government for excellence in cinematic achievement. In 2018, Bollywood superstar Amitabh Bachchan received the award. Following the announcement of the award, wishes from PM Modi, eminent personalities, actors, filmmakers, national leaders and fans from all over the world are pouring in for the actor. Leading actors such as Akshay Kumar, Hrithik Roshan, Chiranjeevi, Mohanlal, Prithvi Raj, Kamal Haasan, Dunush, Maadhavan, Simbran, Radhikaa Sarath Kumar and other actors of Indian cinema conveyed their wishes to the actor through the social media.
