Dadasaheb Phalke Award: Winners List, About, Recipients & Significance

Dhundiraj Govind Phalke (1870 to 1944) is famously known as the ‘Father of Indian Cinema’. He was born at Trimbak in Maharashtra and was a Film Director, Producer, and Script Writer. India’s Film Industry began its journey with the release of its 1st indigenous silent feature film ‘Raja Harishchandra’ in 1913 which was based on Hindu mythology.

Dadasaheb Phalke received inspiration to make films after watching ‘The Life of Christ’ on 15th April 1911 in Mumbai. Dadasaheb Phalke award is the ‘highest honour’ in the Indian Film Industry and was instituted in 1969 to honor the ‘Lifetime contribution to Indian Cinema’.

Dadasaheb Phalke made about 95 full feature films and 27 short films in his entire career. He helped to form Hindustan Film Company in 1917 and introduced the Women Actors in leading roles. Through his work, he openly challenged the social evils about females performing in cinema.

In 1971, India Post released a postage stamp commemorating the cinematic achievements of Dadasaheb Phalke.

S.No.	Category	Winner	Film or Work
1	Best Film	Jawan	Jawan
2	Best Actor	Shah Rukh Khan	Jawan
3	Best Actress	Rani Mukerji	Mrs Chatterjee vs Norway
4	Best Director	Sandeep Reddy Vanga	Animal
5	Best Director (Critics)	Atlee	Jawan
6	Best Actor (Critics)	Vicky Kaushal	Sam Bahadur
7	Best Actress (Critics)	Kareena Kapoor Khan	Jaane Jaan
8	Most Versatile Actress	Nayanthara	Jawan
9	Best Actor in a Negative Role	Bobby Deol	Animal
10	Best Actor in a Supporting Role	Anil Kapoor	Animal
11	Best Music Director	Anirudh Ravichander	Jawan
12	Best Playback Singer (Male)	Varun Jain	“Tere Vaaste”
13	Best Playback Singer (Female)	Shilpa Rao	“Chaleya”
14	Most Promising Actor	Vikrant Massey	12th Fail
15	Most Promising Actress	Adah Sharma	The Kerala Story
16	Best Lyricist	Javed Akhtar	“Nikle The Kabhi Hum Ghar Se,” Dunki
17	Best Cinematographer	Gnana Shekar V. S.	IB71
18	Best International Feature Film	Oppenheimer	International film
19	Best Web Series	Farzi	Web series
20	Best Actor in a Web Series	Shahid Kapoor	Farzi
21	Best Actress in a Web Series	Sushmita Sen	Aarya Season 3
22	Television Series of the Year	Ghum Hai Kisikey Pyaar Meiin	TV serial
23	Best Actress in a TV Series	Rupali Ganguly	Anupamaa
24	Best Actor in a TV Series	Neil Bhatt	Ghum Hai Kisikey Pyaar Meiin
25	Outstanding Contribution to Music Industry	K. J. Yesudas	Music
26	Outstanding Contribution to Film Industry	Moushumi Chatterjee	Cinema

S.No.	Category	Winner	Film or Work
1	Best Film	The Kashmir Files	The Kashmir Files
2	Film of the Year	RRR	RRR
3	Best Director	R. Balki	Chup: Revenge of the Artist
4	Best Actor	Ranbir Kapoor	Brahmastra: Part One - Shiva
5	Best Actress	Alia Bhatt	Gangubai Kathiawadi
6	Best Actor (Critics)	Rishab Shetty	Kantara
7	Best Actress (Critics)	Shefali Shah	Jalsa
8	Best Supporting Actor	Manoj Bajpayee	Gulmohar
9	Best Supporting Actress	Mouni Roy	Brahmastra: Part One – Shiva
10	Best Actor in a Negative Role	R. Madhavan	Dhokha: Round D Corner
11	Most Promising Actor	Rishab Shetty	Kantara
12	Best Playback Singer (Male)	Arijit Singh	“Kesariya,” Brahmastra
13	Best Playback Singer (Female)	Shreya Ghoshal	“Jhoome Jo Pathaan,” Pathaan
14	Best Music Director	Pritam	Brahmastra: Part One – Shiva
15	Best Lyricist	Amitabh Bhattacharya	“Kesariya,” Brahmastra
16	Best Cinematographer	P. S. Vinod	Vikram Vedha
17	Best Actor in a TV Series	Rupali Ganguly	Anupamaa
18	Best Actress in a TV Series	Tejasswi Prakash	Naagin 6
19	Best Web Series	The Night Manager	Web series
20	Best Actor in a Web Series	Aditya Roy Kapur	The Night Manager
21	Best Actress in a Web Series	Vidya Balan	Jalsa

Anant Nag is the most recent award winner of the prestigious Dadasaheb Phalke Award on 22nd September 2026. He is a veteran Kannada actor selected for the award year 2024. He received the award at the 72nd National Film Award event held at Gujarat in India. The previous recipient of the award was Malayalam superstar Mohanlal. He was honoured for the award in 2023.

Dada Sahab Phalke award was introduced by the Government of India in 1969. The award was first given to Devika Rani. The purpose is to commemorate Dadasaheb Phalke's contribution to Indian cinema who directed India's first full-length feature film namely Raja Harishchandra in 1913. Honoured with the highest award in the field of cinema, the recipients are recognized for their ‘outstanding contribution to the growth and development of Indian cinema’. The award comprises a Swarna Kamal (Golden Lotus) medallion, a shawl, and a cash prize of Rs. 10 lakh.

About Dadasaheb Phalke

• Dadasaheb Phalke was born on 30 April 1870 in Trimbak in Maharashtra. He died on 16 February 1944 in Nashik, Maharashtra. He was a film director and is considered the father of Indian cinema. Phalke was credited with making the first indigenous feature film of India. He was a skilled movie technician and experimented with a variety of special effects and trick photography to bring to life the breathtaking mythological themes that formed the core of his huge pieces of work.
• In 1906, DadaSaheb Phalke established Phalke Engraving and Printing Works. It worked on assignments from the lithography press of celebrated painter Ravi Varma. His paintings of the Hindu gods influenced Phalke’s portrayal of various gods and goddesses in the mythological films which he made later on.