New Delhi: Tamil Superstar Rajnikanth received the highest honour in the film industry, the prestigious 51^st Dadasaheb Phalke Award on Monday at Vignan Bhavan in New Delhi.

Vice President M Venkaiah Naidu conferred the Dada Saheb Phalke award to Rajnikanth at the 67th National Film Awards function in New Delhi. After receiving the prestigious award Rajnikanth dedicated this award to his friend bus driver Raj Bahadur, his brother Satyanarayana Rao , mentor K. Balachander, and his fans.

Rajnikanth is the second Tamil actor to receive the prestigious award after Sivaji Ganesan. Apart from four Tamil Nadu State Film Best Actor Awards, and a Filmfare Best Tamil Actor Award, Rajinikanth is the recipient of Padma Bhushan in 2000, and the Padma Vibhushan in 2016.

Rajinikanth as a Tamil movie star would be a grave injustice to the legions of fans and admirers he has acquired across regions and languages, Tamil, Telugu, Kannada, Malayalam, and Hindi, he has acted in all the movie industries. His popularity breaches regional and national boundaries too. There was a time when Rajinikanth was a big time craze in faraway Japan.

Thalaiva! 🙌

Superstar @rajinikanth conferred the prestigious Dadasaheb Phalke Award#NationalFilmAwards @MIB_India pic.twitter.com/3vR4ZMqQHI

— DD News (@DDNewslive) October 25, 2021

Rajnikanth was born in erstwhile Mysore state as Shivaji Rao Gaekwad, in a middle class Marathi family of Bangalore. He took up several odd jobs before landing a job as a bus conductor in the Karnataka capital. Legendary director K. Balachander gave him debut role in Apoorva Raagangal in 1975. Thereafter, a series of negative roles in a succession of movies ensured he became a known face to movie goers.

He acted in Telugu, Kannada, and Malayalam movies in addition to the occasional Hindi movie like Andha Kanoon and Hum to name a few. His hit movies like Baasha, Annamalai and Sivaji that cemented Rajnikanth’s cult status.