List of “Dadasaheb Phalke Award” Winners from the year 1969 to 2016 “Dadasaheb Phalke Award” is a ‘Lifetime Achievement Award’ given annually from the year 1969, by the ‘Directorate of Film Festivals’, set up by the ‘Ministry of Information and Broadcasting’ of the Government of India, in the ‘Annual National Films Awards Ceremony’, to Indian Cinema Artists for their outstanding contributions to the growth and development of Indian Cinema.
The award was instituted to commemorate Mr. Dadasaheb Phalke (1870-1944), the pioneer and ‘The Father of Indian Cinema’ , who produced and directed the first full length Indian Feature Film, ‘Raja Harischandra’ in the year 1913.
The award consists of a shawl, cash award of Rs 10 Lakhs(US $ 16000/-) and a Swarna Kamal/Golden Lotus Medal.
The following is a list of “Dadasaheb Phalke Award”-winners from the year 1969 till date:
S.No./Year-S.No.of National Film Awards/NFA/Name /Language/Remarks
1./1969-17th National Films Awards(NFA) /Ms.Devika Rani (1908-1994)/Hindi/
Ms. Devika Rani is known as the first lady of Indian Cinema, who founded the first ‘Indian Public Limited Films Company’, by the name, “The Bombay Talkies” in the year 1934.
Deviak Rani acted in her first movie ‘Karma’ produced and acted by Mr.Himanshu, in the year 1933, and in the film, she acted along with Himanshu in a kissing scene, running on the screen for 4 minutes, which is still a record in Indian Cinema History.
2./1970-18th NFA/Birendranth Sircar (1901-1980)/Bengali/
Mr.Sircar is the founder of International Filmcraft and New Theatres, Films companies, who built Cinema theatres in Kolkata.
3./1971-19TH NFA/Prithviraj Kapoor (1906-1972/Hindi/
Mr.Prithviraj Kapoor who acted in stage dramas acted in the first Indian film with audio, ‘Alam Ara’ in the year 1931.
In the year 1944 he founded ‘Prithvi Theatre’, a touring dramas company to promote Hindi stage dramas.
The award was given ‘posthumous’and his son Raj Kapoor received the award on his behalf.
4./1972-20TH NFA/Pankaj Mullick(1905-1978)/Bengali/
Mr.Pankaj Mullick is a Music Composer, who had been providing background music by live orchestras during the silent films were screened.
His radio music ‘Mahishasuramardini of the year 1931 is very popular.
5./1973-21ST NFA/Sulochana/Ruby Myers(1907-1983/Hindi/
Ms.Sulochana’s , the first sex symbol of Indian Cinema is the first film in the year 1925 was ‘Veer Bala’
6./1974-22nd NFA/Bommireddy Narasimha Reddy(1908-1977)/Telugu/
Mr.B.N.Reddy had produced 15 Telugu feature films. He was also awarded, Padma Bhushan and a Doctor of Letters honour.
7./1975-23rd NFA/Dhirndranath Ganguly(1893-1978)/Bengali/
Mr.Ganguly is the founder of Bengali Films Industry and he acted in the year 1921 in the movie ‘Bilat Fera’.
He founded ‘Indo British Film Company’ in the year 1918, ‘Lotus Film Company’ in the year 1922 and ‘British Dominion Films Studio’ in the year 1929 for Bengali movies.
8./1976-24th NFA/Kanan Devi(1916-1992) /Bengali/
Ms.Kanan Devi is the first lady of Bengali Cinema. She had acted in the silent Bengali movies in the year 1920.
She founded her own company ‘Shrimati Pictures’ and she had sung Rabindranath Tagore’s songs in her films.
9./1977-25th NFA/Nitin Bose(1897-1986)/Bengali and Hindi/
Mr.Bose was a Cinematographer, Director and Screenplay writer.
He introduced playback singing in Indian Cinema in the year 1935 in his Bengali movie, ‘Bhagya Chakra’ and its Hindi remake, ‘Dhoop Chhaon’.
10./1978-26th NFA/ Raichand Boral(1903-1981)/Bengali and Hindi/
Mr.Boral was a Music Director, who introduced playback singing in Indian Cinema along with Director Nitin Bose.
11./1979-27th NFA/Sohrab Modi(1897-1984)/Hindi/
Mr.Modi was and film actor and producer. He brought the classic dramas of Shakespere into Indian cinema.
12./1980-28th NFA/Paidi Jairaj(1909-2000)/Hindi and Telugu/
Mr.Jairaj was a film actor and director. He had portrayed Indian Historical characters in the Indian cinema.
13./1981-29th NFA/ Naushad( 1919-2006) /Hindi/
Mr.Naushad was a Music Director.
His first movie was ‘Prem Nagar’ in the year 1940.
Naushad introduce techniques of sound mixing in Indian Cinema.
14./1982-30th NFA/L.V.Prasad(1908-1994)/ Hindi and Tamil/
Mr.Prasad was a movies Actor, Director and Producer. He had acted in the first audio films ‘Alam Ara’ –Hindi, ‘Kalidas-Tamil and ‘Bhakta Prahalada’-Telugu, released in the year 1931.
He founded ‘Prasad Studios’ in the year 1965 and Prasad Colour Film Laboratory in the year 1976, which produced more than 150 movies in various languages.
15./1983-31st NFA/ Durga Khote(1905-1991)/Hindi and Marathi/
Ms.Khote had acted in the first Marathi audio movie , V.Shantaram’s ‘Ayodhecha Raja’ in the year 1932. She founded ‘Fact Films’ company and ‘Durga Khote Productions’ company, which produced short films and documentary films.
In Rishi Kapoor-Dimple starred ‘Bobby’ of the year 1973 Durga Khote had acted as the grand mother of the heroine.
16./1984-32nd NFA/Satyajit Ray(1921-1992)/Bengali/
Mr.Satyajit Ray directed his first Bengali film ‘Pather Panchali’ in the year 1955. Mr.Ray attracted the entire world towards Indian Cinema.
He was conferred on with ‘Bharat Ratna’ in the year 1992.
17./1985-33rd NFA/V.Shantaram(1901-1990) /Hindi and Marathi/
Mr.Shantaram produced and directed the first Indian Colour Movie, ‘Sairanhri’ in the year 1931.
He produced and directed the first Marathi audio movie’Ayodhyecha Raja’ in the year 1932.
18./1986-34th NFA/B.Nagi Reddy(1912-2004) /Telugu/
Mr.Nagi Reddy had produced more than 50 movies from the year 1950.
He founded ‘Vijaya Vahini Studios’, the then biggest Films Studios in Asia.
B.Nagi Reddy is the younger brother of Mr.B.N.Reddy.
19./1987-35th NFA/ Raj Kapoor(1924-1988) /Hindi/
Mr.Raj Kapoor , the first son of Mr.Prithviraj Kapoor,was a movie actor and producer.
His performance in his Hindi movie, ‘Awara’ in the year 1951 had been ranked as one of the top 10 greatest performances of all time by ‘Times’ Magazine in the year 2010.
20./1988-36th NFA/Ashok Kumar(1911-2001)/Hindi/
Mr.Ashok Kumar was a popular Hindi character actor.
His movies, ‘Achhut Kannya’ of the yar 1936, ‘Bandhan’ of the year 1940 and ‘Kismet’ of the year 1943 were notable.
21./1989-37th NFA/Lata Mangeshkar(Born on 28th September 1929)/Hindi and Marathi/ Ms.Lata Mangeshkar, known as the ‘Nightingale of India’ is a popular Indian playback singer, and she had sung in over 36 languages from the year 1940.
22./1990-38th NFA/A.Nageswara Rao(1923-2014) /Telugu/
Mr.Nageswara Rao is the first Super star of Telugu Cinema. From his first movie was ‘’Dharma Pathini’ in the year 1941, he had acted in more than 250 movies.
23./1991-39th NFA/ Bhalji Pendharkar(1897-1994)/Marathi/
Mr.Pendharkar is a producer of Marathi movies.
From the year 1920 he had produced more than 60 movies in Marathi and 8 in Hindi.
His movies were notable for the historical and social narratives.
24./1992-40th NFA/ Dr.Bhupen Hazarika(1926-2011)/Assamese/ Mr.Hazarika, known as the ‘Bard of Brahmaputra’ was a Music Director, popular for his folk songs and ballads in Assamese.
25./1993-41st NFA/Majrooh Sultanpuri(1919-2000)/Hindi/
Mr.Marooh Sultanpuri was a Hindi Movies Lyricist, who had written about 8000 songs from his first movie ‘Shahjehan’ in the year 1946.
26./1994-42nd NFA/Dilip Kumar(Born on 12 th December 1922)/Hindi/
Mr.Dilip Kumar, a character actor/’Tragedy King” who had acted in more than 60movies from his first movie, ‘Jwar Bhata’ in the year 1944.
27./1995-43rd NFA/Raj Kumar(1929-2006)/Kannada/
Mr.Rajkumar is an actor and a singer and he had acted in more than 200 Kannada movies in a span of 45 years.
He had also won a National Film Award for the ‘Best Male Playback Singer’ in the year 1992, for his classical song in ‘Thodi Raaga’- ‘Naadamaya’ in the movie ‘Jeevana Chaitra’
28./1996-44th NFA/ Sivaji Ganesan(1928-2001)/ Tamil/
Mr.Sivaji Ganesan known as “Nadigar Thilagam” had acted in more than 300 Tamil movies from his first movie, “Parasakthi” in the year 1952.
He is known for his unique dialogues delivery and lips movements and body language in acting and songs.
29./1997-45th NFA/Kavi Pradeep(1915-1998)/Hindi/
Mr.Pradeep is a Hindi Movie Lyricist, known for his patriotic song,’ Ayea Mere Watan Ke Logo’, had written about 1700 songs, nationalistic poems and he had written lyrics for more than 80 Hindi movies.
30./1998-46th NFA/B.R.Chopra(1914-2008)/ Hindi/
Mr.Chopra was a producer and he had founded his own company, “B.R.Films’ in the year 1956.
His movies, ‘Naya Daur’ of the year 1957 and ‘Hamraaz’ of the year 1967 were popular.
His TV Serial in Hindi, “Mahabharat’ is also very popular.
31./1999-47th NFA/Hrishikesh Mukherjee(1922-2006)/Hindi/
Mr.Mukherjee is a movie director and producer.His movies, ‘Anuradha’ of the year 1960, ‘Anand’ of theyear 1971 and ‘Gol Maal’ of theyear 1979 are popular.
32./2000-48th NFA/Asha Bhosle(Born on 08th September 1933)/Hindi and Marathi/
Ms.Asha Bhosle, younger sister of Ms.Lata Mangeshkar, is a popular play back singer.
She started singing in movies from the year 1948.
She is having a ‘Guinness Book of World Records’ for the most recorded artist in the music history.
33./2001-49th NFA/Yas Chopra(1932-2012)/Hindi/
Mr.Yas Chopra is a Director and Producer. He founded his own company, ‘Yas Raj Films’.
He had directed 22 Hindi movies from his first movie, ‘Dhool Ka Phool ‘ in the year 1959.
34./2002-50th NFA/Dev Anand(1923-2011)/Hindi/
Mr.Dev Anand, an actor and producer of Hindi movies is known as the ‘Ever Green Star’ of Hindi Cinema.
He co-founded the movie company, ‘ Navketan Films’ in the year 1949, along with his elder brother Mr.Chetan Anand and produced 35 movies.
He had acted in 114 Hindi movies, of which he was the hero in 104 movies.
He had acted in 2 English movies also.
35/2003-51st NFA/Mrinal Sen(Born on 14th May 1923)/Bengali/
Mr.Mrinal Sen is a producer and director of Bengali movies.
He had produced 27 movies from his first movie, ‘Raat Bhore’ in the year 1955.
36/2004-52nd NFA/Adoor Gopala Krishnan(Born on 03rd July 1941)/
Malayalam/Mr.Gopala Krishnan is a Director of Malayalam Cinema.
He directed his first movie ‘Swayamvaram’ in the year 1972 and he had won the National Film Award for the ‘Best Direction’ for his first movie itself.
He is known for portrayal of complex social problems in his movies in a simple manner.
37./2005-53rd NFA/Shyam Benegal(Born on 14th December 1934)/Hindi/
Mr.Shyam Bengal is a producer of Hindi movies, focused on rights of women in India.
He had been making advertisements films and he directed his first feature film ‘Ankur’ in the year 1973.
38./2006-54th NFA/Tapan Sinha(1924-2009)/Bengali/
Mr.Sinha is a Indian Director and Producer from the year 1954.
He had produced and directed more than 40 feature films in Bengali, Hindi and Oriya, mostly based on problems of ordinary people of India.
39./2007-55th NFA/Manna Dey(1919-2013) / Bengali and Hindi/
Mr.Manna Dey is an Indian Movies Playback Singer, who had sung more than 3500 songs in various Indian languages.
His songs are with infusion of Indian classical music in a pop framework.
It is notable that the hit Malayalam song “Manasa Maine Varu” in the movie- “Chemmeen” was sung by Manna Dey.
40./2008-56th NFA/V.K.Murthy(1923-2014)/Hindi/
Mr.Murthy is a Cinematographer. He had worked in collaboration with the popular Hindi Movie Director Guru Dutt.
He had made India’s first Cinemascope movie ‘Kaagaz Ke Phool’ in the year 1959.
His movie ‘Pyassa’ of the year 1957 is known for his lighting techniques and beam shot, even at a time the technologies had not improved as at now.
41/2009-57th NFA/D.Rama Naidu(1936-2015)/Telugu/
Mr.Rama Naidu was an Indian Movies producer and he had produced more than 130 movies from the year in various Indian languages and mostly in Telugu.
He is a ‘Guinness Book of World Records’ holder as he had produced movies in 9 languages.
42./2010-58th NFA/K.Balachander(1930-2014)/Tamil and Telugu/
Mr.K.Balachander was a Indian Movies Director and Producer having his own company ‘Kavithalaya Productions’.
From his first Tamil movie ‘Neerkumizhi’ of the year 1965, he had directed more than 100 Indian movies , mainly in Tamil and in Telugu and Hindi. He is known as “Iyakkunar Sigaram”/Top Director
43./2011-59th NFA/Soumitra Chatterjee(Born on 19th January 1935)/Bengali./
Mr.Chatterjee is a Bengali actor.
His first movie was ‘Apur Sansar’ of the year 1959 and he had worked notably with Director Satyajit Ray and others such as Mrinal Sen and Tapan Sinha.
44.2012-60th NFA/Pran(1920-2013)/Hindi/
Mr Pran is and actor who had played mainly villain characters in Hindi
45./2013-61st NFA/Gulzar(Born on 18th August 1934)/Hindi/
Mr.Gulzar is a Hindi Movie Lyricist and Director and his first movie was ‘Bandini’ of the year 1963 and the first film he directed was ‘Mere Apne’ of the year 1971.
He had worked with popular Music directors such as R.D.Burman and A.R.Rahman.
46./2014-62nd NFA/ Shashi Kapoor(Born on 18th March 1938)/Hindi/
Mr.Shashi Kapoor, the son of Mr.Prithviraj Kapoor and the younger brother of Mr.Raj Kapoor, is a Hindi actor.
He started acting from his childhood at the age of just 4 years in the dramas directed by his father Prithviraj Kapoor.
He has won National Film Award for the ‘Best Actor’ for ‘New Delhi Times’ in the year 1985.
He started his own company ‘Filmvalas’ in the year 1978 and he also revived his father Prithviraj Kapoor’s ‘Prithvi Theatres’.
47./2015/63rd NFA/Manoj Kumar (Also known as Bharat Kumar (Born on 24th July 1937)/Hindi
Manoj Kumar is well known for acting and direction of Bollywood Movies, mostly with patriotic themes. . He was honoured with Padma Shri Award in the year 1992.
64th Dadasaheb Phalke Award 2016 Kasinathuni Viswanath – Telugu
Viswanath started his career as a sound recordist. In a film career spanning sixty years, Viswanath has directed fifty three feature films in a variety of genres, including films based on performing arts, visual arts, and aesthetics. Viswanath has garnered five National Film Awards, and has received international recognition for his works. ****8