Malayalam Superstar Mohanlal Wins Prestigious Dadasaheb Phalke Award

The legendary figure in Malayalam cinema, Mohanlal has not only been chosen as the winner of the Dadasaheb Phalke Award (2023), the most prestigious award in the film world in India, but has also been honored with many other national and international prestigious awards. This is an annual award instituted in 1969 in order to recognise lifetime contributions of the growth and development of Indian cinema by the Government of India. The honour will officially be awarded to Mohanlal on the 71st National Film Awards ceremony on September 23, 2025, which will not only be a personal honour but it will also be a glorification of the increasing presence of Malayalam cinema in the national platform.

Viswanathan Mohanlal (also known as Lalettan by millions of his fans) was born in 1960 and made his entry into the Malayalam movie world in 1980s. Since his initial appearance, he became fast known as an all-round competence, which could easily switch the roles of the highly emotional depth and the mass-aware entertainers. Throughout the breadth of his 4-decades long journey in acting, Mohanlal has performed in over 350 films in Malayalam, Tamil, Telugu, and Hindi films. This free and natural way in which he acts, and with nuanced expressions as well as the power to portray immensely diverse characters have made him both an admirer of critics and audiences. One of the known classics in the films include Kireedam, Bharatham, Iruvar and Vanaprastham, and blockbusters such as Narasimham and Pulimurugan have made him the excellent bankable star in India.

Mohanlal has made his mark in acting. He has also been a cultural ambassador of the Malayalam. It is a long career that he has been award-winning with a variety of honours like five National Film Awards, a variety of Kerala State Film Awards and the Padma Bhushan, the third highest civilian award that India can give. His successes are not only a consequence of his own commitments, but also of the energy and ingenuity of Malayalam film industry in general.

On his part, Mohanlal showed humility and immense gratitude with regard to the announcement. In his quote, he stated that this honour is not his and that of everyone who has travelled with him throughout his career such as directors, script writers and co-actors to those who came to receive him. This is what he has managed to describe with his words the feeling behind his down-to-earth personality, as it has not changed in decades of stardom.

The Dadasaheb Phalke Award is the most ardent of awards among the Indian movie industry personnel; Mohanlal is in turn joining the other legends who made their heads indelibly marked in the history of filmmaking. The previous three victors of such an award provide an emphasis to the honour. Waheeda Rehman (2021), known as the undisputed great and beautiful role model in the cinema industry, had the typical marks of the beauty and perfection of Indian cinema. Asha Parekh, a legendary actress of the 1960s and 1970s, who made her contributions in multiple fields, becoming not only a famous actress but also the head of the commission that selects and certifies movies is honoured (Parekh, 2020). The Tamil film superstar Rajinikanth was known to be charismatic, culturally Designed and serve his movie industry over decades (Rajinikanth, 2019). The name of Mohanlal can boast about finding its place next to such stalwarts.

It is not only the award in lieu of the achievements in the past but also the celebration of the influence still persistently present in Mohanlal. He continues to inspire new actors and filmmakers who are hoping to remain both an artist and a mass-appeal film. With the country waiting to see the celebration of Mohanlal on the eve of the National Film Awards, it is his path to success that bears testimony to the fact that nothing is impossible with hard work, talent and the enduring influence of the screen to break through differences and reach the hearts.