Waheeda Rehman to get Dadasaheb Phalke Award; all you need to know

On Tuesday, it was announced that veteran actor Waheeda Rehman will be awarded the prestigious Dadasaheb Phalke Award, Indian cinema's highest honour. 

The announcement was made by the Union Minister of Information & Broadcasting Anurag Thakur on X (formerly Twitter).

"I feel an immense sense of happiness and honour in announcing that Waheeda Rehman ji is being bestowed with the prestigious Dadasaheb Phalke Lifetime Achievement Award this year for her stellar contribution to Indian Cinema. Waheeda ji has been critically acclaimed for her roles in Hindi films, prominent among them, Pyaasa, Kaagaz ke Phool, Chaudhavi Ka Chand, Saheb Biwi Aur Ghulam, Guide, Khamoshi and several others. In her career spanning over five decades, she has essayed her roles with extreme finesse, leading to a National Film Award for her role as a clanswoman in the film Reshma Aur Shera. A Padma Shri and Padma Bhushan awardee, Waheeda ji has exemplified dedication, commitment and the strength of a Bharatiya Nari who can achieve the highest level of professional excellence with her hard work," wrote Thakur on X.

"At a time when the historic Nari Shakti Vandan Adhiniyam has been passed by Parliament, her being awarded with this lifetime achievement award is a fitting tribute to one of the leading ladies of Indian Cinema and one who has dedicated her life after films to philanthropy and the greater good of society. I congratulate her and humbly pay my regards to her rich body of work that is an intrinsic part of our film history," he added.

Waheeda made her acting debut with the Telugu film Rojulu Marayi (1955). She has featured in many films such as Pyaasa (1957), Guide (1965), Khamoshi (1969), Phagun (1973), Kabhi Kabhie (1976), Chandni (1989), Lamhe (1991), Rang De Basanti (2006), and Delhi 6 (2009) among many others.

Waheeda Rehman will receive the award in a ceremony later this year. 

The Dadasaheb Phalke Award only adds to the long list of accolades that Waheeda Rehman has already received over her long career in the industry. Some of them include:

- Padma Bhushan in 2011

- Padma Shri in 1972

- Filmfare Award for Best Actress - Guide (1967)

- Filmfare Award for Best Actress - Neel Kamal (1969)

- National Film Award for Best Actress - Reshma Aur Shera (1972)

- She received the Filmfare Lifetime Achievement Award in 1995

What is the Dadasaheb Phalke Award, and who was Dadasaheb Phalke?

The Dadasaheb Phalke Award

The Dadasaheb Phalke Award is part of the National Film Awards, a highly coveted collection of honours in the film industry. 

The award is named after Dhundiraj Govind Phalke, the pioneering filmmaker who gave India its first film– 'Raja Harishchandra', in 1913.

The award, presented annually by the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, is considered the highest honour in the Indian film fraternity. It is awarded for "outstanding contribution to the growth and development of Indian cinema".

According to the website of the Directorate of Film Festivals, the award was instituted by the government in 1969, and consists of a 'Swarna Kamal', a cash prize of Rs 10 lakh, a certificate, a silk roll, and a shawl. 

The President of India presents the award in the presence of the Union Minister of Information and Broadcasting, the chairpersons of the juries, the representatives of the Film Federation of India (FFI), and the Confederation of All India Cine Employees amid senior officials, the website said.

Recipients of Dadasaheb Phalke Award

Ceremonial Year	Recipent	Film Industry
1969 (17th NFA)	Devika Rani	Hindi
1970 (18th NFA )	Birendranath Sircar	Bengali
1971 (19th NFA)	Prithviraj Kapoor	Hindi
1972 (20th NFA)	Pankaj Mullick	Bengali, Hindi
1973 (21st NFA)	Ruby Myers (Sulochana)	Hindi
1974 (22nd NFA)	B. N. Reddy	Telugu
1975 (23rd NFA)	Dhirendra Nath Ganguly

Bengali 1976 (24th NFA) Kanan Devi Bengali 1977 (25th NFA) Nitin Bose Bengali, Hindi 1978 (26th NFA) Raichand Boral Bengali, Hindi 1979 (27th NFA) Sohrab Modi Hindi 1980 (28th NFA) Paidi Jairaj Hindi

1981 (29th NFA)

Naushad Hindi 1982 (30th NFA) L. V. Prasad Telugu, Tamil, Hindi 1983 (31st NFA) Durga Khote Hindi, Marathi 1984 (32nd NFA)

Satyajit Ray

Bengali 1985 (33rd NFA) V. Shantaram Hindi, Marathi 1986 (34th NFA) B. Nagi Reddy Telugu 1987 (35th NFA) Raj Kapoor Hindi 1988 (36th NFA) Ashok Kumar Hindi

1989 (37th NFA)

Lata Mangeshkar Hindi, Marathi 1990 (38th NFA) Akkineni Nageswara Rao Telugu 1991 (39th NFA) Bhalji Pendharkar Marathi 1992 (40th NFA) Bhupen Hazarika Assamese 1993 (41st NFA) Majrooh Sultanpuri Hindi 1994 (42nd NFA) Dilip Kumar Hindi 1995 (43rd NFA) Rajkumar Kannada 1996 (44th NFA) Sivaji Ganesan Tamil 1997 (45th NFA) Kavi Pradeep Hindi 1998 (46th NFA)

B. R. Chopra

Hindi 1999 (47th NFA) Hrishikesh Mukherjee Hindi

2000 (48th NFA)

Asha Bhosle Hindi, Marathi 2001 (49th NFA) Yash Chopra Hindi 2002 (50th NFA) Dev Anand Hindi 2003 (51st NFA) Mrinal Sen Bengali, Hindi 2004 (52nd NFA) Adoor Gopalakrishnan Malayalam

2005 (53rd NFA)

Shyam Benegal Hindi 2006 (54th NFA) Tapan Sinha Hindi, Bengali 2007 (55th NFA) Manna Dey Hindi, Bengali 2008 (56th NFA) V. K. Murthy Hindi 2009 (57th NFA) D. Ramanaidu Telugu 2010 (58th NFA) K. Balachander Tamil 2011 (59th NFA) Soumitra Chatterjee Bengali 2012 (60th NFA) Pran Hindi 2013 (61st NFA) Gulzar Hindi

2014 (62nd NFA)

Shashi Kapoor Hindi 2015 (63rd NFA) Manoj Kumar Hindi 2016 (64th NFA) K. Vishwanath Telugu 2017 (65th NFA) Vinod Khanna Hindi 2018 (66th NFA) Amitabh Bachchan Hindi 2019 (67th NFA) Rajinikanth (Announced) Tamil 2020 (68th NFA) Asha Parekh (Announced) Hindi 2021 Rajinikanth & Asha Parekh (Recieved) Tamil and Hindi 2022 Rekha Hindi

Dhundiraj Govind 'Dadasaheb' Phalke

Phalke, who was born in 1870 at Trimbak in Maharashtra, was drawn towards creative arts from childhood. He studied engineering and sculpture and developed an interest in motion pictures after watching the 1906 silent film The Life of Christ.

Before venturing into films, Phalke worked as a photographer, owned a printing press, and had even worked with the renowned painter Raja Ravi Varma.

In 1913, Phalke wrote, produced, and directed India's first feature film, the silent Raja Harishchandra. A commercial success, it propelled Phalke to make 95 more films and 26 short films in the next 19 years.

Phalke's fortunes dwindled with the arrival of sound in cinema. He died in 1944 at Nashik after retiring from films.