Hridaynath Mangeshkar conferred Sangeet Natak Akademi

Music composer Hridaynath Mangeshkar was conferred the Sangeet Natak Akademi Award 2015 here on Tuesday along with musician Bhupinder Singh and Kuchipudi dancer G Padmaja Reddy.

Prafulla Kar, Mambalam M.K.S. Siva, Brij Narayan, Kartick Kumar, Mashkoor Ali Khan, Krishna Bisht were other names in the category of music who were presented Sangeet Natak Akademi's Fellowships and Awards for 2015.

The awardees in the dance category include names of Sharodi Saikia (Sattriya), Mandakini Trivedi (Mohiniattam), W. Lokendrajit Singh(contemporary/experimental), Ranganayaki Jayaraman (Bharatnatyam), K Kunhiraman Nair (Kathakali), Aloka Kanungo (Odissi), Sadashiva Pradhan (Chhau) and Rajkumar Bharathi (music for dance).

The Sangeet Natak Akademi's Fellowships (Akademi Ratna) and Sangeet Natak Akademi Awards (Akademi Puraskar) are recognised as the most coveted national honours bestowed on performing artistes as well as teachers and scholars in the field of performing arts.

Theatre personalities who won the award were Nand Kishore Acharya and Shafaat Khan (playwriting), Parvez Akhtar and Mushtaq Kak (direction), and Manoj N. Joshi and Himani Shivpuri (acting), among several others.

Ten artistes won the Akademi award in the field of traditional/folk/tribal music/dance/theatre and puppetry. Writer Shanta Gokhale and Chaman Lal Ahuja won in the overall contribution/scholarship for performing arts category.

--IANS

mg/vd