Shashi Kapoor: Bollywood veteran given Dada Saheb Phalke Award

Shashi Kapoor has won several national film awards for his performances

Veteran Bollywood actor and producer Shashi Kapoor is to be given the prestigious Dada Saheb Phalke Award, the highest honour in Indian cinema.

The 77-year-old, who acted in huge hits like Deewar and Kabhie Kabhie, belongs to the Kapoor family which has long dominated the Hindi film industry.

He has won several national film awards and was given the civilian award Padma Bhushan by the government in 2011.

He also acted in several British and American films.

Kapoor is the 46th winner of the Dada Saheb Phalke Award which is given by the government for "outstanding contribution to the growth and development of Indian cinema".

The prestigious award was also conferred on his father Prithviraj Kapoor, a theatre and film actor, and his elder brother Raj Kapoor, who was a well-known actor, producer and director.

Shashi Kapoor has acted in 160 films

Shashi Kapoor began his career as a child actor and appeared in 160 films, including a dozen in English like the 1983 Merchant Ivory production Heat and Dust.

He starred alongside Bollywood superstar Amitabh Bachchan in some of the biggest Bollywood blockbusters of the 1970s and 1980s, including Deewar, Trishul and Kabhie Kabhie and won a huge fan following.

Soon after the announcement of the award on Monday evening, Prime Minister Narendra Modi praised him on Twitter as a "stalwart of the film industry":

Congress party MP Naveen Jindal also congratulated the actor:

In a series of tweets, actress Shabana Azmi described him as a "trailblazer":

And author Shobhaa De said he was the "handsomest star ever":