The legendary actor Amitabh Bachchan was honoured with 50th Dadasaheb Phalke Awards, India’s highest film honour, on Sunday by President Ram Nath Kovind for his extraordinary contribution to Indian cinema.

Amitabh Bachchan was accompanied by his wife Jaya Bachchan and son Abhishek Bachchan at the ceremony held at the Rashtrapati Bhavan.

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The 77-year-old actor was supposed to confer the award last Monday at the National Film Awards, but due to his illness, he was unable to attend the ceremony.

He took it to Twitter to inform about his ill health and being unable to attend the ceremony.

T 3584/5/6 –
Down with fever .. ! Not allowed to travel .. will not be able to attend National Award tomorrow in Delhi .. so unfortunate .. my regrets ..

— Amitabh Bachchan (@SrBachchan) December 22, 2019

In September this year, Union Minister for Information and Broadcasting, Prakash Javadekar had announced that Amitabh Bachchan will be awarded the Dadasaheb Phalke Award.

“The legend Amitabh Bachchan who entertained and inspired for 2 generations has been selected unanimously for Dadasahab Phalke Award. The entire country and international community is happy. My heartiest Congratulations to him,” Javadekar tweeted.

After receiving the award, Bachchan quipped, “When the announcement of the award was made, I got suspicious that whether this is an indication for me to get retirement, sit back at home and relax.”

“As still there is some work left to be done,” he added.

Instituted in 1969, Dadasaheb Phalke Award is named after Dhundiraj Govind Phalke who is a revered father of Indian cinema. Interestingly, in the same year, Amitabh Bachchan made his debut in the film industry with ‘Saat Hindustani’.

The award comprises of Golden Lotus medallion, a shawl and a cash prize of Rs 10,00,000.

The veteran actor has won four National Film Awards for Best Actor. The last one was for his outstanding performance in a film Piku in 2015 in which he played the role of an old father who is dependent on his daughter.

Apart from the big screen, Amitabh Bachchan has also marked a strong presence on the small screen with his outstanding quiz show Kaun Banega Crorepati.