The Father of Indian Cinema, Dadasaheb Phalke, made the first Indian feature film Raja Harishchandra in the year 1913. To honor his legacy, the Government of India established the Dadasaheb Phalke Award in 1969. This year, the prestigious 51st Dadasaheb Phalke Award was awarded to the iconic actress Rekha.
List of all recipients of the Dadasaheb Phalke Awards
| Ceremonial Year | Recipient | Film industry |
| 2024 (74th) | Mithun Chakraborty | Hindi |
| 2023 (73rd) | Rekha | Hindi |
| 2022 (72nd) | Asha Parekh | Hindi |
| 2021 (71st) | Rajnikanth | Tamil |
| 2020 (70th) | Asha Parekh | Hindi |
| 2019 (67th) | Rajnikanth | Tamil |
| 2018 (66th) | Amitabh Bachchan | Hindi |
| 2017 (65th) | Vinod Khanna | Hindi |
| 2016 (64th) | Kasinathuni Viswanath | Telugu |
| 2015 (63rd) | Manoj Kumar | Hindi |
| 2014 (62nd) | Shashi Kapoor | Hindi |
| 2013 (61st) | Gulzar | Hindi |
| 2012 (60th) | Pran | Hindi |
| 2011 (59th) | Soumitra Chatterjee | Bengali |
| 2010 (58th) | K. Balachander | Tamil, Telugu |
| 2009 (57th) | D. Ramanaidu | Telugu |
| 2008 (56th) | V. K. Murthy | Hindi |
| 2007(55th) | Manna Dey | Bengali, Hindi |
| 2006 (54th) | Tapan Sinha | Bengali, Hindi |
| 2005 (53rd) | Shyam Benegal | Hindi |
| 2004 (52nd) | Adoor Gopalakrishnan | Malayalam |
| 2003 (51st) | Mrinal Sen | Bengali |
| 2002 (50th) | Dev Anand | Hindi |
| 2001 (49th) | Yash Chopra | Hindi |
| 2000 (48th) | Asha Bhosle | Hindi, Marathi |
| 1999 (47th) | Hrishikesh Mukherjee | Hindi |
| 1998 (46th) | B. R. Chopra | Hindi |
| 1997 (45th) | Kavi Pradeep | Hindi |
| 1996 (44th) | Sivaji Ganesan | Tamil |
| 1995 (43rd) | Rajkumar | Kannada |
| 1994 (42nd) | Dilip Kumar | Hindi |
| 1993 (41st) | Majrooh Sultanpuri | Hindi |
| 1992 (40th) | Bhupen Hazarika | Assamese |
| 1991 (39th) | Bhalji Pendharkar | Marathi |
| 1990 (38th) | Akkineni Nageswara Rao | Telugu |
| 1989 (37th) | Lata Mangeshkar | Hindi, Marathi |
| 1988 (36th) | Ashok Kumar | Hindi |
| 1987 (35th) | Raj Kapoor | Hindi |
| 1986 (34th) | B. Nagi Reddy | Telugu |
| 1985 (33rd) | V. Shantaram | Hindi, Marathi |
| 1984 (32nd) | Satyajit Ray | Bengali |
| 1983 (31st) | Durga Khote | Hindi, Marathi |
| 1982 (30th) | L. V. Prasad | Hindi, Tamil, Telugu |
| 1981 (29th) | Naushad | Hindi |
| 1980 (28th) | Paidi Jairaj | Hindi, Telugu |
| 1979 (27th) | Sohrab Modi | Hindi |
| 1978 (26th) | Raichand Boral | Bengali, Hindi |
| 1977 (25th) | Nitin Bose | Bengali, Hindi |
| 1976 (24th) | Kanan Devi | Bengali |
| 1975 (23rd) | Dhirendra Nath Ganguly | Bengali |
| 1974 (22nd) | Bommireddy Narasimha Reddy | Telugu |
| 1973 (21st) | Ruby Myers (Sulochana) | Hindi |
| 1972 (20th) | Pankaj Mullick | Bengali & Hindi |
| 1971 (19th) | Prithviraj Kapoor | Hindi |
| 1970 (18th) | Birendranath Sircar | Bengali |
| 1969 (17th) | Devika Rani | Hindi |
