While the everlasting followers of Veteran and phenomenal director of Tamil Cinema Bharathiraja have been celebrating his birthday on Friday - July 17 by recalling his perennial love stories and his predominant role in the evolution of Tamil Cinema, some of the prominent faces in the cinema industry have recalled his contribution and stood in the same line of making his service to the movie industry to get recognized nationally. 

With the view of honoring his contribution, several national award winners of the Tamil Cinema Industry have written to Union Minister of Information and Broadcasting Prakash Javedekar to confer Dadasaheb Phalke Award to Bharathiraja. The signatories who signed the petition have appealed to the Center for the high recognition by stating that Bharathiraja has brought a new wave in South Indian Cinema.

By listing out the contribution and accomplishments made by the legendary director, the signatories have highlighted that his films have addressed societal stigmas and many social issues like caste war, women empowerment, social values, female infanticide, social values, human relationship, untouchability, and unemployment and he has created a cult following among South Indians. 

The signatories further mentioned that Bharathiraja has brought a large number of new talents to the Indian Cinema Industry including reputed directors Manivannan, Manobala, and Bhagyaraj. The prominent signatories have avowed that the "Dadasaheb Phalke Award" is a fitting tribute to this living legend and a right recognition at the right time for his contribution to the Indian Cinema. 

The signatories appealed to the Union Ministry to confer the phenomenal director with the recognition in honoring his huge contribution. According to the reports, the signatories are the National Award Winners in Tamil Cinema Industry including Kamal Haasan, R Parthiepan, Vetrimaaran, Dhanush, Bala, Cheran, SR Prabhu, Sreekar Prasad, Priyadarshan, B Lenin, Kalaipuli S Thanu and others. About 35 members from the industry have signed to divulge their assertions on honoring Bharathiraja. 

The signatories further stated that the legendary director has worked with legendary actors of the industry like Sivaji Ganesan, Rajinikanth, Kamal Haasan, Rajesh Khanna, Chiranjeevi, Sridevi, Nana Patekar, Suhasini Maniratnam, Sunny Doel, Poonam Dhillan, Radhika Sarathkumar, Vijayashanti, Revathy, Jayasudha and many others.

The Dadasaheb Phalke Award is India's highest award in cinema and the recipients will be honored with this bestowment for their outstanding contributions to the growth and development of Indian Cinema. Actors Sivaji Ganesan and Akkineni Nageswara Rao, directors K Balachander, Adoor Gopalakrishnan, and K Viswanath, producers BN Reddy, Nagi Reddy, and LV Prasad are among those who have been conferred with the Phalke award. 

Bharathiraja, who has turned 78 on Friday -July 17, has been conferred with Padma Shri Award in 2004 and he has won National Award six times, Filmfare awards south four times, and Tamil Nadu State Film Awards for two times. He has been active since 1977 and he has directed over 40 movies that are still accredited as the best movies of the Tamil Cinema Industry.