Veteran Kannada actor Anant Nag has dedicated his recent Dadasaheb Phalke Award to the people of Karnataka, crediting the state’s filmmakers, audiences and cultural environment for making his career possible. The 77-year-old actor said that the opportunities he found in Karnataka allowed him to work across both art films and commercial cinema in a way that would not have been possible anywhere else in the country.

“This would not have been possible for me anywhere else,” Anant Nag told ANI. He described Karnataka’s audiences as “a very, very educated audience and very discerning audience” and credited the state’s cultural ecosystem, its producers, directors, actors, actresses and most importantly its people, for creating the conditions that shaped his five-decade career.

Anant Nag traced his journey back to his childhood. He was born in Shirali in the Uttara Kannada district in 1948, but was sent to Bombay at the age of 12. While there, he observed that making art films in Mumbai was difficult, with filmmakers like Shyam Benegal and Satyajit Ray being exceptions rather than the norm. It was only when he returned to Karnataka for a film that he realised the atmosphere was fundamentally different.

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“When I came here, the atmosphere was very different. There was an audience for art films, there was an audience for sober commercial films and all. So what I could do here, I couldn’t have done anywhere else in India,” he said. “That’s how I stayed back in Bangalore. Made this house here. All this was possible because of Karnataka and Karnataka only.”

Nag revealed that he was employed at a bank as a college student before entering the stage at the age of 18. He spent approximately five years in theatre before transitioning to cinema, where opportunities began coming his way. He also spoke about his pride in Karnataka’s “sanskriti, culture and sanskara,” saying the state’s deep appreciation for the arts brought together the circumstances that enabled his career. “As I said again, I wouldn’t have been able to do this anywhere else. Because here it was very different, the atmosphere was different. The people of Karnataka love the world of arts. So it all helped, came together, and today this has materialised,” he said.

Anant Nag said he was grateful that the Prime Minister had personally acknowledged the honour. He noted that he had dedicated his Padma Bhushan to the people of Karnataka when he received it from President Droupadi Murmu in 2025, and was dedicating the Dadasaheb Phalke Award to them as well.

#WATCH | Bengaluru, Karnataka: On Dadasaheb Phalke Award conferred on him, actor Anant Nag says, “…I am thankful…Last year, when I got Padma Bhushan, and the Dadasaheb Phalke Award this year – I dedicate it to the people of Karnataka and Kannadigas…PM tweeted this, and that… pic.twitter.com/Gm15cmsJEW

— ANI (@ANI) September 16, 2026

Anant Nag, born Anant Nagarkatte, has been working in the movies since 1973 and has appeared in over 200 Kannada films across five decades. He is the younger brother of the late actor and filmmaker Shankar Nag, who passed away in a road accident in 1990 at the age of 35. His notable films include Minchina Ota, Naagarahaavu, Baro, Ondagona Baa, Pallavi Anu Pallavi, Accident, Utsav, Malgudi Days and most recently the KGF franchise, where he played Anand Ingalagi.

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His career has uniquely straddled commercial Kannada cinema, art house filmmaking and Hindi parallel cinema, a range that his comments about Karnataka’s audience directly address. The state’s willingness to support both popular entertainment and serious cinema is, in his telling, what made that range possible.

The Dadasaheb Phalke Award, instituted in 1969 and first presented to Devika Rani, recognises “outstanding contribution to the growth and development of Indian cinema.” It comprises a Swarna Kamal (Golden Lotus) medallion, a shawl and a cash prize of Rs 10 lakh. Anant Nag will receive the award on September 22 at the 72nd National Film Awards ceremony.