Dharmendra to receive Raj Kapoor Lifetime Achievement award

Veteran actor Dharmendra and filmmaker Rajkumar Hirani will be conferred with the prestigious Raj Kapoor Lifetime Achievement and Raj Kapoor Special Contribution awards, respectively, Maharashtra culture minister Vinod Tawde announced here today.

Veteran Marathi actor Vijay Chavhan will receive the V Shantaram Lifetime Achievement award, while actor-director Mrinal Kulkarni has been named for V Shantaram Special Contribution awards.

"Delighted to announce veteran actor Dharmendra ji as the recipient of Maharashtra State's Raj Kapoor Lifetime Achievement Award and director Rajkumar Hirani on being selected for the Raj Kapoor Special Contributions Award. Congratulations (sic)," Tawde tweeted.

Dharmendra, 82, who earned himself the sobriquet of "He-Man" after he starred in a number of action films and has movies such as "Sholay", "Chupke Chupke", "Yaadon Ki Baaraat", "Satyakam" and "Seeta Aur Geeta" to his credit.

Hirani is regarded as one of the most celebrated filmmakers of Hindi cinema, having made critically-acclaimed and commercially-successful films such as "Munna Bhai MBBS", "3 Idiots" and "PK".

He is currently gearing up for the release of biopic on actor Sanjay Dutt, with whom he has collaborated on a number of projects.

"Congratulations to veteran actor Vijay Chavhan and actress-director Mrinal Kulkarni on being announced as the recipients of the prestigious Chitrapati V Shantaram Jivangaurav Puraskar and Chitrapati V Shantaram Vishesh Yogdaan Puraskar respectively (sic)," Tawde tweeted.

Chavhan, who is a well-known Marathi stage actor, has appeared in many Marathi films as well as on television. He is best known for the his role of Mavshi in the famous Marathi stage drama "Moruchi Mavshi". He has also worked in Hindi films.

Kulkarni has worked, both in films and TV, and is best known for featuring in the television show "Son Pari". She also directed "Prem Mhanje Prem Mhanje Prem Asta" and the Marathi historical drama "Rama Madhav".

Both the lifetime achievement awards carry a citation and cash reward of Rs 5,00,000, while the special contribution awards carry a citation and Rs 3,00,000 cash prize each.

The state government-instituted awards will be given away at the 55th Maharashtra State Marathi Film Festival.