Dada Saheb Phalke is considered as the “father of Indian Cinema”. His first film ‘Raja HarisChandra’ is the first full length feature film made in India.The Government of India in the year 1969, instituted an award by name ‘Dada Saheb Phalke’ award, for the life time achievement in cinema.

The ‘Dada Saheb Phalke’ award comprises of:

• A Certificate,
• Swarna Kamal/Golden Lotus of weight 52 gms, with about 50% of gold (costing about Rs 50 000/-)
• Cash Prize of Rs 10 Lakhs and
• A Shawl

The following is the list of ‘Dada Saheb Phaleke’award winners from 1969 to 2010:-
Year↓ Awardee↓ Occupation↓
1969/ Devika Rani /Chaudhuri Roerich/ Actress
1970/ B. N. Sircar/ Producer
1971/ Prithviraj Kapoor/ Actor (Posthumous)
1972/ Pankaj Mullick/ Music Director
1973/ Ruby Myers (Sulochana) / Actress
1974/ Bomireddi Narasimha Reddy/ Director
1975/ Dhirendranath Ganguly/ Actor-cum- Director
1976/ Kanan Devi/ Actress
1977/ Nitin Bose / Cinematographer, Director& Screenwriter
1978/ Rai Chand Boral/ Music Director& Director
1979/ Sohrab Modi / Actor, Director& Producer
1980/ Paidi Jairaj/ Actor& Director
1981/ Naushad Ali/ Music Director
1982/ L. V. Prasad/ Actor, Director& Producer
1983/ Durga Khote/ Actress
1984/ Satyajit Ray/ Director
1985/ V. Shantaram/ Actor, Director& Producer
1986/ B. Nagi Reddy/ Producer
1987/ Raj Kapoor Actor& Director
1988/ Ashok Kumar/ Actor
1989/ Lata Mangeshkar/ Playback Singer
1990 / Akkineni Nageswara Rao/ Actor
1991/ Bhalji Pendharkar/ Director, Producer& Screenwriter
1992/ Bhupen Hazarika/ Director
1993/ Majrooh Sultanpuri/ Lyricist
1994/ Dilip Kumar/ Actor
1995/ Rajkumar/ Actor
1996/ Sivaji Ganesan/ Actor
1997/ Pradeep/ Lyricist
1998/ B.R. Chopra/ Director& Producer
1999/ Hrishikesh Mukherjee/ Director
2000/ Asha Bhosle/ Playback Singer
2001/ Yash Chopra/ Director, Producer
2002 / Dev Anand/ Actor, Director& Producer
2003/ Mrinal Sen/ Director
2004/ Adoor Gopalakrishnan/ Director
2005/ Shyam Benegal/ Director
2006/ Tapan Sinha/ Director
2007/ Manna Dey/ Playback Singer
2008/ V. K. Murthy/ Cinematographer
2009/ D. Ramanaidu/ Producer2010/ K. Balachander/ Director

“Iyakkunar Sigaram” K.Balachander is the second Tamil Film Personality after “Nadigar Thilagam” Sivaji Ganesan to receive the India’s top-prestigious award given by the Government of India to "Life Time Achievers" in Indian Cinema.