Dadasaheb Phalke Excellence Awards 2017: Hema Malini, Aishwarya Rai, Zeenat Aman

Mumbai: Veteran actress- politician Hema Malini along with Aishwarya Rai Bachchan, filmmaker Shoojit Sircar and Zeenat Aman bagged the Dadasaheb Phalke Excellence Awards 2017 that took place in Mumbai.  Mumbai witnessed Bollywood stars and music giants grace the prestigious Dadasaheb Phalke Excellence Awards 2017 on Friday night, 21 April 2017. Chitra Productions in association with Dadasaheb Phalke Excellence Awards 2017 celebrated the 148th birth anniversary of the father of Indian Cinema, the respected Dadasaheb Phalke. Dadasaheb Phalke Award is given to a film personality for his or her outstanding contribution to the growth and development of Indian Cinema. The Dadasaheb Phalke Award was introduced in 1969 by the government to recognise the contribution of film personalities towards the development of Indian Cinema. The first recipient of this award was Devika Rani. This year, Aishwarya Rai Bachchan won the award for the best actress female for her stellar performance in the film Sarabjit while Hema Malini won the Award in the category of Kala Shree. Veteran Zeenat Aman walked the stage to receive the Lifetime Achievement Award. On the other hand, Sircar bagged Creative Director Award for Pink, along with Rohit Roy, who bagged the Best Negative Role in Film for Kaabil. Actress Saiyami Kher, who made her Bollywood debut in Rakeysh Om Prakash Mehra’s film Mirzya, received the best debut award at the Dasaheb Phalke Excellence Awards 2017. The actress starred in Mirzya opposite veteran actor Anil Kapoor’s son Harshvardhan Kapoor. Saiyami was feted with the award on Friday night. After receiving the award the, she said: “Dadasaheb Phalke belonged to my hometown, Nashik. I’ve grown up knowing what immense contribution he has had to Indian cinema. It’s such an honour to have received an award from the Dadasaheb Phalke foundation.”