{"id":35406,"date":"2025-09-21T19:28:07","date_gmt":"2025-09-21T19:28:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/35406\/"},"modified":"2025-09-21T19:28:07","modified_gmt":"2025-09-21T19:28:07","slug":"ram-gopal-varma-says-dadasaheb-phalke-should-get-a-mohanlal-award-heres-how-the-actor-reacted","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/35406\/","title":{"rendered":"Ram Gopal Varma says Dadasaheb Phalke should get a Mohanlal Award; here\u2019s how the actor reacted"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>After being named the recipient of the Dadasaheb Phalke Award, the highest honour in Indian cinema, Malayalam superstar Mohanlal has been receiving a flood of congratulatory messages from across the country. Among them, one of the most viral and debated came from Bollywood filmmaker Ram Gopal Varma.<\/p>\n<p>In a post on X, Varma suggested that instead of Mohanlal receiving the Dadasaheb Phalke Award, it should be the other way around. \u201cI don\u2019t know much about Dadasaheb Phalke except that he made the first-ever film, which I didn\u2019t see and I never met anyone who saw it. But from what I saw and know of Mohanlal, I think Dadasaheb Phalke should be given the Mohanlal Award,\u201d he wrote.<\/p>\n<p>The unusual tribute sparked widespread discussions online. Some saw it as a tongue-in-cheek compliment to Mohanlal\u2019s stature, while others criticised it for appearing dismissive of Indian cinema\u2019s founding father.<\/p>\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">I don\u2019t know much about <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/hashtag\/DadasahebPhalke?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">#DadasahebPhalke<\/a> except that he\u2019s made the 1st ever film , which i dint see and I never met anyone who saw it , but from what I saw and know of <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/Mohanlal?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">@Mohanlal<\/a> , I think Dadasaheb Phalke should be given the MOHANLAL AWARD \ud83d\udc90\ud83d\udd25\ud83d\udcaa<\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Ram Gopal Varma (@RGVzoomin) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/RGVzoomin\/status\/1969427611089764736?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">September 20, 2025<\/a> <\/p>\n<p>Mohanlal, however, responded with grace when asked about the post during a press interaction on Sunday morning. \u201cIt\u2019s just black humour, that\u2019s all,\u201d he said. \u201cHe has always been someone who makes such jokes. I share a good friendship with him. I acted in his film Company, which later became a cult classic. From that time onwards, I\u2019ve known him to be a man of black humour. So I don\u2019t think he meant it seriously\u2014he simply expressed his thoughts differently from everyone else.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>At the same press meet, Mohanlal spoke emotionally about receiving the honour. \u201cThis award has been received by the greats of cinema before, and I feel deeply honoured to join their ranks,\u201d he said. \u201cI remember everyone who has been with me through these 48 years. Many who stood by me are no longer here, but I remember them all at this moment.\u201d<br \/>The actor, who has completed nearly five decades in films, called the recognition a significant milestone in his career.<\/p>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"After being named the recipient of the Dadasaheb Phalke Award, the highest honour in Indian cinema, Malayalam superstar&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":35407,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[32],"tags":[32994,32987,32985,430,32988,32984,32990,156,14082,32989,9916,8078,32986,32991,111,139,69,31296,32992,32993],"class_list":["post-35406","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-celebrities","tag-best-malayalam-actor","tag-black-humor","tag-bollywood-filmmaker","tag-celebrities","tag-company-film","tag-dadasaheb-phalke-award","tag-dadasaheb-phalke-controversy","tag-entertainment","tag-indian-cinema","tag-indian-film-awards","tag-malayalam-actor","tag-mohanlal","tag-mohanlal-award","tag-mohanlal-career-milestones","tag-new-zealand","tag-newzealand","tag-nz","tag-ram-gopal-varma","tag-ram-gopal-varma-tweets","tag-tribute-to-mohanlal"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35406","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=35406"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35406\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/35407"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=35406"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=35406"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=35406"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}