New Delhi, 16 September 2026: The winner of the prestigious Dadasaheb Phalke Award for the year 2024 has been officially announced by the Central Government. Based on the recommendation of the Dadasaheb Phalke Award Selection Committee, the government has announced to honor Indian cinema veteran and versatile Kannada actor Ananth Nag with this highest award. This honor is being given to him to celebrate his unprecedented and incomparable contribution to the Indian cinema sector for more than five decades. This prestigious award will be given to actor Anant Nag on 22 September 2026 during the 72nd National Film Award ceremony to be held at Kevadiya (Ekta Nagar) in Narmada district of Gujarat.
As soon as Anant Nag's name was announced, Prime Minister Narendra Modi heartily congratulated him on the social media platform 'X' (Twitter). The Prime Minister had written, “Many congratulations to the great actor Anant Nag ji for receiving the Dadasaheb Phalke Award. For decades, through his natural acting, superb acting and amazing versatile talent, he has left a deep mark on Indian cinema, especially Kannada cinema. Every character he has played has a different depth and liveliness.”
Ananth Nag, born on 4 September 1948 in Bengaluru, Karnataka, is a highly respected artist of Kannada cinema. He has worked in more than 300 films in his long film career. Although he has mainly worked in Kannada films, he has also proved his multilingual acting ability in Hindi, Telugu, Tamil, Marathi, Malayalam and English language films.
Anant Nag got popularity in every household across the country with the famous TV serial 'Malgudi Days'. Apart from this, the important role he played in Kannada cinema's globally superhit film 'KGF: Chapter 1' was greatly appreciated by the audience. He has played comedy, drama and serious character roles with great enthusiasm. In the year 2023, he completed 50 years in the cinema world. Last year, he was also awarded the 'Padma Bhushan' award by the Central Government for his outstanding contribution in cinema.