Dadasaheb Phalke Award: Shah Rukh wins Best Actor, Vanga Best Director

It's a special night for superstar Shah Rukh Khan as a while ago he won an award in the 'Best Actor' category at Dadasaheb Phalke International Film Festival Awards (DPIFF) 2024.

SRK was honoured for his performance in Atlee's directorial 'Jawan'.

In an acceptance speech, he quipped, "Shukriya sari jury member ka jinhone mujhko best actor ke liye layak samjha aur bhaut saal ho gaye mujhe best actor ka award nahin mila toh aisa lagne laga tha ki ab milega hi nahin. Mujhe bhaut khushi hai. Mujhe awards bhaut ache lagte hai ...main thoda laalchi hu, greedy hu. (I thank jury who considered me worthy of the Best Actor award. I have not received the Best Actor Award in a long time. It seemed as if I would not get it again...So I am extremely happy. I like awards. I am a bit greedy)

SRK also expressed gratitude to the entire team of 'Jawan' and the audience.

"I am genuinely thrilled and touched that people have recognized the work that I have put in. Work of an artist is not important ...all the people around him or her make everything come together...so a lot of people's hard work is involved in making Jawan and helping me win this award. I promise I will keep working hard and entertain India and people who are living abroad..whether it takes me to dance, to fall, to fly, to romance, to be evil, to be a bad guy, to be a good guy...Inshallah, I will keep working hard," SRK said with a big smile on his face.

SRK returned to the silver screen with Siddharth Anand's 'Pathaan' in January 2023. In the film, SRK donned an action avatar and left everyone in awe. The film broke several records at the box office and managed to grab a name in the list of one of the highest-grossing films in the Indian film industry. The film marked SRK's first hit after his sabbatical of four years post delivering a series of duds like 'Zero' and 'Jab Harry Met Sejal'.

After 'Pathaan', King Khan returned to theatres in September with 'Jawan'. The film once again saw SRK in an action avatar. The film collected over Rs 1000 cr. at the worldwide box office. Needless to say, SRK has had a phenomenal year. SRK did not stop here.

In December, he came up with 'Dunki', which also did decent business at the box office.

Filmmaker Sandeep Reddy Vanga bagged the Best Director award for his film 'Animal' at the Dadasaheb Phalke International Film Festival Awards 2024.

Taking to X, Production house T-Series shared a video and wrote, "Sandeep Reddy Vanga awarded with the Best Director award at the Dada Saheb Phalke Awards for Animal."

The grand award ceremony was also attended by other B-town celebs like Shah Rukh Khan, Rani Mukerji, Aditya Roy Kapur, Vikrant Massey, Nayanthara, Shahid Kapoor, Sandeep Reddy Vanga and others.

Helmed by Sandeep Reddy Vanga 'Animal' was one of the biggest blockbusters of 2023. However, it was also criticized for its alleged depiction of misogyny.

The film starred Ranbir Kapoor, Rashmika Mandanna, Anil Kapoor, and Bobby Deol in the lead roles.

'Animal' revolves around a troubled father-son relationship and has Ranbir in the role of Rannvijay Singh, who goes on to exact revenge after there's an assassination attempt on his father. The film raked in over Rs 800 crore at the box office.

Meanwhile, Vanga will be next directing 'Spirit' which stars Prabhas in the lead role.