• Veteran actor Mithun Chakraborty will be honoured with the Dadasaheb Phalke Award, the country’s highest recognition in the field of cinema.

• The award will be presented to Chakraborty at the 70th National Film Awards ceremony on October 8, 2024.

• The three-member jury — comprising former Dadasaheb awardee Asha Parekh, actor-politician Khushbu Sundar and filmmaker Vipul Amrutlal Shah — selected Chakraborty, 74, for the prestigious honour.

Remarkable cinematic journey

• Mithun Chakraborty, whose real name is Gourang Chakraborty, is an alumnus of Pune’s Film and Television Institute of India (FTII) who has predominantly worked in Hindi and Bengali cinema.

• He made his acting debut with Mrinal Sen’s 1976 film ‘Mrigayaa’, for which he won his first National Film Award for Best Actor. He earned two more National Awards for 1992’s ‘Tahader Katha’ (best actor) and 1998’s ‘Swami Vivekananda’ (best supporting actor).

• Chakraborty shot to stardom with his distinctive dancing style in the 1982 superhit ‘Disco Dancer’, which is widely credited for ushering in the era of disco dancing in India through chartbusters like ‘I Am A Disco Dancer’ and ‘Yaad Aa Raha Hai’.

• Then followed several hits like ‘Mujhe Insaaf Chahiye’, ‘Hum Se Hai Zamana’, ‘Pasand Apni Apni’, ‘Ghar Ek Mandir’, ‘Kasam Paida Karne Wale Ki’ and ‘Commando’.

• He was also praised for his role in the 1990 film ‘Agneepath’, fronted by Amitabh Bachchan.

• A former Rajya Sabha Member of Parliament, Chakraborty joined the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) ahead of the 2021 West Bengal Legislative Assembly election. 

Dadasaheb Phalke Award

• To honour the ‘Father of Indian Cinema’, Dhundiraj Govind Phalke, the National Film Awards named the most prestigious and coveted award of Indian Cinema after him. 

• He is the man who made the first Indian Feature film Raja Harishchandra in 1913. Popularly known as Dadasaheb Phalke, he then went on to make 95 films and 26 short films in a span of 19 years. 

• The Dadasaheb Phalke Award was introduced in 1969 by the government to recognise the contribution of film personalities towards the development of Indian Cinema. 

• The first recipient of this award was Devika Rani.

• Dadasaheb Phalke Award is given to a film personality for his/her outstanding contribution to the growth and development of Indian Cinema. The award comprises a Swarna Kamal, a cash prize of Rs 10 lakh, certificate, silk scroll and a shawl.

Some of the previous awardees are:

• Waheeda Rehman - 2021

• Asha Parekh - 2020

• Rajinikanth - 2019

• Amitabh Bachchan - 2018

• Vinod Khanna - 2017

• K. Viswanath - 2016

• Manoj Kumar - 2015

• Shashi Kapoor - 2014

• Gulzar - 2013

• Pran - 2012

• Soumitra Chatterjee - 2011

• K. Balachander - 2010.

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