Prez presents Sangeet Natak Akademi awards, fellowships

President Pranab Mukherjee today presented the Sangeet Natak Akademi awards to artists and theatre personalities at a special ceremony held here.
A total of 34 artistes including Bahaud-Din Dagar, Rajshekhar Mansur, Sabir Khan, Nirmal Rishi, Parvesh Kumar Sethi and P V Vijaya Kumar were honoured at the event.
Akademi fellowships were given to N Rajam, noted violinist Hindustani classical music violinist, T H Vinayakram, a Grammy Award-winning Indian percussionist and Ratan Thiyam, veteran playwright and theatre director.
Vinayakram has also been awarded the Padma Shri in 2002 for his achievements while Thiyam has won a Sangeet Natak Akademi award in 1987.

The Sangeet Natak Akademi awards are the highest Indian recognition given to practicing artists. The award consists of a cash amount of Rs 50,000, a citation, shawl and a brass plaque.