Asha Parekh to be conferred with Dadasaheb Phalke Award 2020

The veteran actor Asha Parekh will be honoured with the Dadasaheb Phalke award for 2020, the highest recognition in the field of Indian cinema, Union Minister for Information and Broadcasting Anurag Thakur said on Tuesday.

The 79-year-old actor, best known for films such as Dil Deke Dekho, Kati Patang, Teesri Manzil, and Caravan, is considered one of the most influential actresses of all time in Hindi cinema. She was also a director and producer. Parekh had helmed the acclaimed TV drama Kora Kagaz in the late 1990s.

She was one of the most popular and well-paid actresses of the 1960s and 1970s, earning the highest salary of any actress at the time. The actor received the Padma Shri award from the Indian government in 1992 for her contributions to the movie industry.

Throughout the course of her lengthy career, Parekh formed a close friendship with Nasir Hussain, who chose her to play the lead role in six more of his films: Jab Pyar Kisi Se Hota Hai (1961), Phir Wohi Dil Laya Hoon (1963), Teesri Manzil (1966), Baharon Ke Sapne (1967), Pyar Ka Mausam (1969), and Caravan (1971). She also appeared in a cameo in Manzil Manzil (1984), directed by Nasir Hussain, with whom she had previously worked on six films. Additionally, Hussain included her in the distribution of 21 movies, beginning with Baharon Ke Sapne (1967).

Up until director Raj Khosla gave her a serious image by casting her in tragic roles in three of her favourite movies, Do Badan (1966), Chirag (1969), and Main Tulsi Tere Aangan Ki (1978), Parekh was primarily recognised as a beautiful girl, brilliant dancer, and tomboy in most of her films. Her other favourite movies, Pagla Kahin Ka (1970) and Kati Patang (1970), both directed by Shakti Samanta, provided her with more tragic roles; the latter won her the Filmfare Award for Best Actress.

In 1995, Parekh gave up acting to focus on directing and producing television series. The Hit Girl, her autobiography co-written with Khalid Mohamed, was published in 2017.

Last year, the Dadasaheb Phalke Award for 2019 was conferred on Rajinikanth.