Veteran actor Rajanikanth on Monday was honoured with the Dada Saheb Phalke Award by Vice President Venkaiah Naidu at the 67th National Awards function held at the Vigyan Bhawan in New Delhi.

Rajanikanth dedicated the award to his mentor K Balachander, brother Sathyarayana Rao Gaekwad and friend Raj Bahadur. He also thanked the film fraternity, producers, directors, technicians, co-artists, distributors, theater owners, media friends and fans through his winning speech.

Apart from Rajanikanth, his son-in-law and actor Dhanush received the best actor award for his performance in ‘Asuran’. The actor shared the best actor award along with Manoj Bajpayee for his performance in ‘Bhonsle’. While, Kangana Ranaut got the best actress award for ‘Panga’, well known Kollywood actor Vijay Sethupathi was awarded the best supporting actor for his performance in ‘Super Deluxe’.

Various other talents spanning different languages were also presented the awards for the year 2019 was given away during the occasion. Anurag Thakur, the Union Minister of Information and Broadcasting were also present at the occasion.