Veteran Malayalam actor Mohanlal received the Dadasaheb Phalke Award for 2023 at the 71st National Film Awards ceremony on September 23, 2025. The award is India's highest film honour, established in 1969 and named after Dhundiraj Govind Phalke, director of India's first feature film 'Raja Harischandra' (1913). Mohanlal, with over 360 films across a career spanning over four decades, had previously won the National Film Award for Best Actor (1991), Padma Shri (2001), and Padma Bhushan (2019).