Malayalam actor and superstar Mohanlal was conferred with the Dadasaheb Phalke award, India's highest cinema honor, at the 71st National Awards this week in Delhi. During his stirring speech, the 65-year-old thanked the government for the honor and dedicated the award to the Malayalam film industry and the legacy of other legendary artists before him.
With a career spanning nearly five decades, Mohanlal expressed his heartfelt thanks to the audience of the Malayalam cinema for constantly pushing artists like him to do better. He also highlighted that he never dreamt of winning the most prestigious cinema award in India, and therefore it was not a "dream-come-true" moment for him, but "something greater".
Popularly known as Lalettan, he ended his powerful speech by giving a special tribute to cinema. "Cinema is the heartbeat of my soul," he said in Malayalam, and concluded the speech with "Jai Hind."
The actor made his film debut in 1978 with a minor role in ‘Thiranottam’, which was released later in 2005. He rose to prominence in the 1980s and 1990s with versatile performances spanning drama, action, comedy, and thrillers. He is known for his natural acting style and expressive dialogue delivery. The senior actor has appeared in over 350 films across multiple Indian languages, including Malayalam, Tamil, Telugu, Hindi, and Kannada.
