Dadasaheb Phalke Award

Presented first in 1969, the award was introduced by the Government of India to commemorate Dadasaheb Phalke's contribution to Indian cinema. Phalke (1870–1944), who is popularly known as and often regarded as "the father of Indian cinema", was an Indian filmmaker who directed India's first full-length feature film, Raja Harishchandra (1913).

The first recipient of the award was actress Devika Rani, who was honoured at the 17th National Film Awards. As of 2026, there have been 56 awardees. Among those, actors Prithviraj Kapoor (1971) and Vinod Khanna (2017) are the only posthumous recipients. Kapoor's actor-filmmaker son, Raj Kapoor, accepted the award on his behalf at the 19th National Film Awards in 1971 and was also himself a recipient in 1987 at the 35th National Film Awards ceremony.

Recipients include several pairs of siblings who received this award in different years, for example: B. N. Reddy (1974) and B. Nagi Reddy (1986); Raj Kapoor (1987) and Shashi Kapoor (2014); Lata Mangeshkar (1989) and Asha Bhosle (2000); B. R. Chopra (1998) and Yash Chopra (2001). The most recent recipient (2024) is actor Anant Nag, who was honoured at the 72nd National Film Awards ceremony on 22 September 2026 by the President of India, Droupadi Murmu.

Recipients