RAO'S PODIUM- 37- THIRTY SEVEN

The Dadasaheb Phalke Award, India's highest cinema honor, was instituted in 1969 to recognize lifetime contributions to Indian cinema.

 Devika Rani was the first recipient,

 with recent honorees including 

Mithun Chakraborty (2024) and 

Mohanlal (2025). 

The award is presented annually at the National Film Awards ceremony.

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Key Awardees (Inception to Recent):

• 1969: Devika Rani
• 1970: B. N. Sircar
• 1971: Prithviraj Kapoor (posthumous)
• 1972: Pankaj Mullick
• 1973: Ruby Myers
• 1974: B. N. Reddy
• 1975: Dhiren Ganguly
• 1976: Kanan Devi
• 1977: Nitin Bose
• 1978: Rai Chand Boral
• 1979: Sohrab Modi
• 1980: P. Jairaj
• 1981: Naushad
• 1982: L. V. Prasad
• 1983: Durga Khote
• 1984: Satyajit Ray
• 1985: V. Shantaram
• 1986: B. Nagi Reddy
• 1987: Raj Kapoor
• 1988: Ashok Kumar
• 1989: Lata Mangeshkar
• 1990: A. Nageswara Rao
• 1991: Bhalji Pendharkar
• 1992: Bhupen Hazarika
• 1993: Majrooh Sultanpuri
• 1994: Dilip Kumar
• 1995: Dr. Rajkumar
• 1996: Sivaji Ganesan
• 1997: Kavi Pradeep
• 1998: B. R. Chopra
• 1999: Hrishikesh Mukherjee
• 2000: Asha Bhosle
• 2001: Yash Chopra
• 2002: Dev Anand
• 2003: Mrinal Sen
• 2004: Adoor Gopalakrishnan
• 2005: Shyam Benegal
• 2006: Tapan Sinha
• 2007: Manna Dey
• 2008: V. K. Murthy
• 2009: D. Ramanaidu
• 2010: K. Balachander
• 2011: Soumitra Chatterjee
• 2012: Pran
• 2013: Gulzar
• 2014: Shashi Kapoor
• 2015: Manoj Kumar
• 2016: Kasinathuni Viswanath
• 2017: Vinod Khanna (posthumous)
• 2018: Amitabh Bachchan
• 2019: Rajinikanth
• 2020: Asha Parekh
• 2021: (Not awarded due to COVID-19)
• 2022: (Not awarded due to COVID-19)
• 2023: Rekha (noted in 2023/24)
• 2024: Mithun Chakraborty
• 2025: Mohanlal
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