Anant Nag thanks PM Modi after being named 2024 Dadasaheb Phalke Award recipient
Veteran Kannada actor Anant Nag has thanked Prime Minister Narendra Modi after being named the recipient of the 2024 Dadasaheb Phalke Award, saying the award selection process had earlier been influenced by “nepotism” and “favouritism” but had changed after public participation was introduced.
Nag, 78, said he was grateful to Modi for announcing the honour and dedicated the award to the people of Karnataka. The award will be presented at the National Film Awards ceremony in Kevadia, Gujarat, on September 22.
“Otherwise, it was a very special category, you know; it was given (through) nepotism and favouritism, and everything was there in this award-giving. But Modi changed it,” Nag told PTI Videos.
He said Modi had sought public recommendations for the Padma Awards, which prompted people from Karnataka to recommend his name.
“Modi was the only person who asked people to please recommend the name they had in their mind. That was the first time he brought it out into the public,” he said.
Nag said he had never anticipated receiving the Dadasaheb Phalke Award and was still coming to terms with the recognition.
“I didn't anticipate that I would be given this Phalke Award, as such. So, I'm trying to come to terms with it. I would dedicate it to the people of Karnataka, and then thank Mr Modi, our dear Prime Minister, for this,” he said.
He was referring to Modi's post on X announcing the award, in which the prime minister described him as a “truly distinguished artist”.
Nag, who has completed 50 years in cinema, said he had never been someone who expected awards, though he valued the support of people who admired his work.
“I've never been in that culture of expecting an award. Reward, yes, anytime. But an award, I was not told,” he said.
The actor said he did not have formal fan associations but acknowledged those who had supported his career.
“I wouldn't say they are my fans, because I don't have fan associations and all. But I have people who admire my work and who have blessed me, supported me in my 50-year career as an actor,” he said.
Asked what advice he would give young people entering the film industry, Nag said success required hard work and connecting with audiences.
“They have to work hard, yes. If you want to be successful in cinema, in entertainment, you have to work very hard and then please the audience,” he said.
Nag also said he was reluctant to travel and had not yet confirmed whether he would attend the award ceremony.
“If I'm asked to, then I cannot say no. When they've conferred such a big award on me, then I should go to it and take it,” he said.
He said the recognition also offered an opportunity to celebrate India's diverse film industries and the country's longstanding love for cinema across languages.
“This country has so many languages, and so many films are made in. And everybody... the kind of craze for cinema which is there in India, in all languages, in all states, is not there anywhere else in the world, not even in Hollywood,” he said.
Nag has acted in more than 270 films, mainly in Kannada and a few in Hindi, during his five-decade career. He is also a prominent theatre personality.
Born and raised in a religious family in Bhatkal in coastal Karnataka, Nag was sent to Mumbai for higher education, where his early exposure to literature and storytelling drew him towards theatre.
He acted in Konkani, Hindi and Marathi plays for about five years and came under the influence of theatre personalities including Satyadev Dubey, Girish Karnad and Amol Palekar.
Nag made his film debut with the 1973 Kannada movie Sankalpa and went on to become an important figure in the parallel cinema movement of the 1970s and 1980s.
He was also part of the popular Doordarshan serial Malgudi Days, based on the works of R K Narayan and directed by his filmmaker brother Shankar Nag.
Nag later served as Bengaluru Development Minister in Karnataka's J H Patel government. He has spoken about being influenced by the JP movement and unsuccessfully contested the Chamarajpet Assembly constituency in Bengaluru on a Janata Dal (Secular) ticket in 2004.
His prominent Kannada films include Bayalu Daari, Na Ninna Bidalaare, Gauri Ganesha, Godhi Banna Sadharana Mykattu and KGF Chapter-1. His Hindi parallel cinema credits include Ankur, Nishant, Manthan, Bhumika, Kondura, Kalyug and Gehrayee.
The previous recipient of the Dadasaheb Phalke Award was Malayalam superstar Mohanlal. The 2024 award is being announced as part of the delayed schedule of the National Film Awards.
Instituted in 1969, the Dadasaheb Phalke Award recognises contributions to Indian cinema and honours Dhundiraj Govind Phalke, widely regarded as the father of Indian cinema. Phalke directed Raja Harishchandra, India's first full-length feature film, in 1913.
