Veteran actress Asha Parekh receives Dada Saheb Phalke award
New Delhi, Sep 30: Veteran actor Asha Parekh was on Friday honoured with the Dada Saheb Phalke award, the highest recognition in the field of Indian cinema.
Parekh, 79, was presented the award by President Droupadi Murmu during the 68th National Film Awards ceremony, held at Vigyan Bhawan here.
The veteran said she is grateful to receive the prestigious award a day before her 80th birthday.
"It is a huge honour to have received the Dada Saheb Phalke award. It makes me very grateful that the recognition comes to me just one day before my 80th birthday.
"This is the best honour I could get from the Government of India. I would like to thank the jury for the recognition that they have bestowed upon me, my long journey and fulfilling the journey in the film industry," said Parekh, who is the recipient of the award for the year 2020.
Describing the Indian film industry as the "best place" to be in, the actor said she continues to be attached to the movies in her own small way even after 60 years.
"Our film industry is the best place to be in. And I would like to suggest to the youngsters who are in this industry to have perseverance, determination, discipline, and to be grounded, and I congratulate all the awardees tonight," she added.
The five-member Dada Saheb Phalke Award committee -- comprising Asha Bhosle, Hema Malini, Poonam Dhillon, Udit Narayan, and TS Nagabharana -- selected Parekh for the honour.
Parekh, whose stardom was at par with male contemporaries Rajesh Khanna, Rajendra Kumar and Manoj Kumar in the 1960s-1970s, started her acting career at the age of 10 with the 1952 film "Aasmaan".
In a career spanning over five decades, she starred in over 95 films that include titles such as "Dil Deke Dekho", "Kati Patang", "Teesri Manzil", "Baharon Ke Sapne", "Pyar Ka Mausam", and "Caravan".
She made foray into films as a child artist with 1952's "Aasmaan" and went on to star in Bimal Roy's "Baap Beti" two years later.
Parekh made her debut as a leading lady in Nasir Hussain's 1959 movie "Dil Deke Dekho", opposite Shammi Kapoor.
A director and producer as well, Parekh had helmed the acclaimed TV drama "Kora Kagaz" that aired in the late 1990s.
The screen legend was also the first female chairperson of the Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC). She served from 1998-2001.
The actor came out with her autobiography, "The Hit Girl", co-written by film critic Khalid Mohamed, in 2017.
She was also honoured with the Padma Shri, the fourth-highest civilian award of the country, in 1992.
Last year, the Dadasaheb Phalke Award for 2019 was conferred on Rajinikanth.
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Wayanad LS bypoll: Priyanka crosses lead achieved by Rahul in 2024 Lok Sabha polls
Wayanad (Kerala) (PTI): Top Congress leader Priyanka Gandhi Vadra was on Saturday comfortably cruising towards her maiden electoral win from Wayanad in Kerala, as she surpassed the lead achieved by her brother Rahul Gandhi in the 2024 Lok Sabha polls earlier this year with party leaders and ally IUML predicting a big win for her amid the counting trends.
The Congress-led UDF's candidate from this hill constituency, Priyanka, extended her lead by over 3.8 lakh votes after five hours of counting of the ballots in the Wayanad Lok Sabha bypoll, according to the Election Commission.
Reacting to the lead achieved by Priyanka, Congress' ally Indian Union Muslim League and Telangana Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy said she would get more votes than her brother Rahul Gandhi in the Lok Sabha polls in April this year and will win by a record margin.
"An amazing first trend on counting day is the massive early lead for our leader @priyankagandhi ji in Wayanad, Kerala, by-election. People of Wayanad are surely going to record in victory margins today and Priyanka ji will make Parliamentary debut with a grand win," Reddy said in a post on 'X'.
IUML supremo Panakkad Sadiq Ali Shihab Thangal said that going by the trends, Priyanka will get more votes than what Rahul got and the majority she achieves would also be higher than that of her brother.
A similar view was expressed by IUML's national general secretary P K Kunhalikutty.
On the other hand, BJP leader Anil K Antony, earlier in the day, had claimed that though Priyanka has achieved a good lead, her victory margin would be less than what Rahul got in the 2024 and 2019 LS polls in the hill constituency.
According to the latest EC figures, Priyanka had a lead of 3,82,975 with 5,78,526 votes. LDF's Sathyan Mokeri was behind her with 1,95,551 votes and NDA's Navya Haridas was in the third spot with 1,04,947 votes.
Rahul had got 6,47,445 votes and won by a margin of 3,64,422 votes against his nearest rival, CPI's Annie Raja, in the LS polls this year. In 2019, he had got 7,06,367 votes and had won by a margin of 4,31,770 votes.
After winning from Rae Bareilly in Uttar Pradesh as well, in this year's polls, Rahul vacated the Wayanad seat, and the party nominated his sister Priyanka, paving the way for her electoral debut.
The bypoll turnout in Wayanad, which has over 14 lakh registered voters, was around 65 per cent, a decline from the close to 74 per cent in the LS polls held in April this year and much lower than the over 80 per cent turnout in the hill constituency in the 2019 general elections.
The counting of votes commenced at 8 am with postal ballots being taken up first.
The strong rooms, where the EVMs were kept, were opened more than an hour before counting began.
The bypoll for the Wayanad Lok Sabha seat was held on November 13.
Of the 16 candidates who contested, the main contenders are Priyanka, ruling CPI(M)-led LDF's Sathyan Mokeri, a political veteran, and BJP-headed NDA's Navya Haridas.
