Amitabh Bachchan receives the Dadasaheb Phalke Award in the capital

On Sunday evening, Amitabh Bachchan, who is this year’s recipient of the Dadasaheb Phalke Award, arrived at the Rashtrapati Bhavan with wife Jaya and son Abhishek to attend the felicitation ceremony. While every year, the Dadasaheb Phalke awardee is honoured at the National Film Awards ceremony, an ailing Big B couldn’t be present at the ceremony, which was conducted early last week.
Expressing his gratitude to his parents and the film fraternity, Amitabh Bachchan said that he’s most indebted to the audience for their love and support and said, “Indian audience is the reason I’m here today.”
He told the gathering that Dadasaheb Phalke award was established 50 years ago, and incidentally, he started his career 50 years back. Before ending his speech, he joked if the award is a hint for him to retire. He said, “Jab iss puraskar ki ghoshna hui, toh mere mann mein ek sandeh utha, ki kya yeh sanket hai mere liye ki ‘Bhaisahab, aap ne bahut kaam kar liya, ab ghar baith kar aaram kariye.’” However, the actor still has a lot of work to do. “Kyunki deviyon aur sajjano, abhi bhi thoda kaam baaki hai, jise mujhe abhi poora karna hai. Aur aage bhi kuch aisi sambhavnaein ban rahi hain ki mujhe kaam karne ka avsar milega.”
A three-minute clip highlighting the most popular dialogues of Big B’s films was screened at the ceremony. The I&B officials and this year’s National Film Awards winners also attended the ceremony and post-awards reception.