Dharmendra, Prosenjit and Rohit Sharma honoured with prestigious Padma awards
The Padma awards are conferred annually in three categories, Padma Vibhushan, Padma Bhushan and Padma Shri, and are presented by the President of India at ceremonial functions held at Rashtrapati Bhawan, New Delhi usually in March or April.
Veteran Bollywood icon Dharmendra has been chosen for Padma Vibhushan posthumously, India's second-highest civilian honour, while cricketer Rohit Sharma and Bengali cinema's superstar Prosenjit Chatterjee have been selected for Padma Shri, the fourth highest recognition of the Indian government ahead of tomorrow's Republic Day.
According to the Indian home ministry, which made the list of awardees public this evening (25 January), Dharmendra has been recognised in the Art category, acknowledging his contribution to Indian cinema spanning more than six decades during which he emerged as one of Bollywood's most enduring stars and a defining face of popular Hindi films.
Dharmendra, who is among five persons chosen for Padma Vibhushan, died on 24 November last year.
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VS Achuthanandan, Kerala's Marxist leader, was also selected for Padma Vibhushan posthumously.
Eminent Malayalam cinema actor Mammotty and singer Alka Yanik are among the 13 persons chosen for Padma Bhushan award, the third highest recognition.
Yagnik, one of India's most popular singers and winner of Filmfare awards , has sung songs across multiple languages of India. Mammotty has acted in more than 400 films and won multiple national awards.
Prosenjit and Rohit, the Padma Shri award winners also include actor Satish Shah posthumously.
Prosenjit has acted in several Bengali films and remains a big draw for cinema-makers in Kolkata.
Rohit Sharma, former India's test and ODI team captain, has been at the heart of India's growing dominance over the game with his explosive batting particularly in shorter versions of cricket.
Another cricketer honoured with Padma Shri is India's women's team captain Harmanpreet Kaur who recently led the country to its first Women's World Cup title last year.
The Padma awards are conferred annually in three categories, Padma Vibhushan, Padma Bhushan and Padma Shri, and are presented by the President of India at ceremonial functions held at Rashtrapati Bhawan, New Delhi usually in March or April.
This year's list of awardees features well-known names from the fields of arts, politics, sports, public affairs and business.
