The first villain of Bollywood, Pran Krishan Sikand aka Pran was named for the Dadasaheb Phalke award on Friday.
He is the 44th Dada Saheb Phalke award winner. The award consists of a Swarn Kamal, a cash prize of Rs.10 lakhs and a shawl.
The actor turned 93 in February this year.
A source from the Information & Broadcasting Ministry confirmed the news about Pran getting Dadasaheb Phalke award.
Bollywood megastar Amitabh Bachchan believes Pran, "a large pillar of the Indian film industry", is most deserving of Dadasaheb Phalke honour.
"A glorious tribute to a great human and a large pillar of the Indian film industry... Pran... the Dadasaheb Phalke award by the state," the 70-year-old tweeted.
Pran has acted in over 400 movies in a career spanning over 6 decades and played a vast range of roles: from a hero to a villain to a character artist. He has worked along with Dilip Kumar, Dev Anand and Raj Kapoor in 1950s and 60s.
He became a symbol of hatred after his portrayals of a bad guy in a series of films including hits like Madhumati, Ziddi, Dil Diya Dard Liya, Aadmi, Amar Deep, Jagte Raho and Ram Aur Shyam.
After years of playing an antagonist, Pran switched to character roles and was equally good. He was loveable Mangal Chacha in "Upkar", thoroughly entertained as street-smart fraud in "Victoria No.203", and epitomized on-screen friendship in the role of a rough but kind Pathan in "Zanjeer".
Born in the year 1920 in Delhi, Pran started his career way back in 1940.
(with inputs from IANS and ANI)
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