Published Sep 16, 2026 | 6:39 PM ⚊ Updated Sep 16, 2026 | 6:39 PM
In 2025, Nag was awarded the Padma Bhushan, India’s third-highest civilian award.
Synopsis: Anant Nag will receive the Dadasaheb Phalke Award for 2024 for his contribution to Indian cinema, with the award to be presented at the 72nd National Film Awards ceremony in Kevadia, Gujarat, on 22 September. The veteran Kannada actor has appeared in over 300 films, including more than 250 Kannada films, as well as productions in Hindi, Telugu, Tamil, Marathi, Malayalam and English, besides working in theatre, parallel cinema and television.
Veteran Kannada actor Anant Nag will receive the Dadasaheb Phalke Award for 2024 for his contribution to Indian cinema and his long career across films, theatre and television, the Union government announced on Wednesday, 16 September.
The award, conferred on the recommendation of the Dadasaheb Phalke Award Selection Committee, will be presented at the 72nd National Film Awards ceremony in Kevadia, Gujarat, on 22 September.
Nag has acted in over 300 films, including more than 250 Kannada films. His other film credits include Hindi, Telugu, Tamil, Marathi, Malayalam and English productions. His work has also included parallel cinema, theatre and television.
In 2025, Nag was awarded the Padma Bhushan, India’s third-highest civilian award.
🎬THE DADASAHEB PHALKE AWARD 2024 GOES TO…
Shri ANANT NAG
On the recommendation of the Dadasaheb Phalke Award Selection Committee, the Government of India is pleased to announce that the Actor will be conferred the prestigious Dadasaheb Phalke Award 2024 for his contribution… pic.twitter.com/3WKnWZDGs0
— PIB India (@PIB_India) September 16, 2026
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Born Anant Nagarkatte on 4 September 1948, in Shirali, in present-day Bhatkal taluk of Karnataka’s Uttara Kannada district, Nag grew up in a Konkani-speaking family.
Actor-filmmaker Shankar Nag was his younger brother, and he has an elder sister, Shyamala. His father sent him to Mumbai for further studies when he was in Standard 9, where he began his acting career in Kannada and Konkani theatre.
He subsequently worked in plays by Satyadev Dubey, Girish Karnad and Amol Palekar. For about five years, he acted in Konkani, Kannada, Marathi and Hindi plays.
He made his feature-film debut with Sankalpa in 1973, directed by Prof PV Nanjaraj Urs. The film went on to win seven State awards in Karnataka. He continues to be active in industry.
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Nag also entered electoral politics and was associated with the Janata Party. He served as a Member of the Legislative Council and later as an MLA, and was a Minister in the JH Patel government, holding the Bangalore Urban Development portfolio.
In the 2004 Karnataka Assembly elections, he contested the Chamarajpet constituency in Bengaluru as a Janata Dal (Secular) candidate against then Karnataka Chief Minister and Congress leader SM Krishna and actor Mukhyamantri Chandru of the Bharatiya Janata Party.
Later, there was speculation for years that Nag would formally join the BJP.
In February 2023, the Karnataka BJP organised a programme in the presence of its then State president Nalin Kumar Kateel, at which Nag was expected to join the party. He did not attend the programme, which was subsequently cancelled.
(Edited by Dese Gowda)
