Well-known Tulu writer Bola Chittaranjandas Shetty, theatre personality J Seetharam Shetty and T A Srinivas from Tulu cinema were chosen for Karnataka Tulu Sahitya Academy’s honorary award for 2011.
Addressing a press meet here on Wednesday, Academy President Umanath A Kotian said Bola Chittaranjan Das is a well-known Tulu writer.
Some of his works are ‘Ponnu Mannda bombe,’ ‘Neer,’ ‘Binnedi,’ ‘Amar Beerere Mamanne,’ ‘Thammale Aruvatha Katt’ and ‘Sri Madhwaraj.’ Das had also written few books in Kannada as well.
T A Srinivas is a well-known personality in the field of Tulu movies. He was running four movie theatres as the secretary of Udupi Sri Ramakrishna Theatre Limited company till 1973. He was distributor of Tulu cinemas.
As a Producer, he has produced two Tulu movies namely ‘Bhagyavanthedi’ and ‘Badikda Bile.’ Bhagyavanthedi had won best Tulu movie award in 1981. He was the founder of Chitra Bharathi enterprises for the distribution of movies.
J Seetharam Shetty has been taking care of Sri Ganesh Nataka Sabha, Mangalore for the last 42 years. He has acted in over 10 Kannada plays and 17 Tulu plays. He was the founder of Tulunada Nataka Sabha.
He has also acted in over 10 Tulu cinemas and has worked as Production Manager. His one play ‘Thammale arvathana kola’ has been staged over 3,500 times. In fact, his plays were staged not only in Dakshina Kannada and Udupi but also in Chennai, Hubli, Mysore, Bangalore, Kasargod, Poona, Mumbai, Delhi, Goa and so on.
Kotian said that the award carries a cash prize of Rs 10,000, a certificate, a memento and a shawl.
Book award
Kotian said that the book award winners are Puthige Padmanabha Rai for Tulu novel ‘Sathyadrishti,’ Dr Ashok Alva K’s story book ‘Onji Kundu Nalpa Kathekulu’ and Rathnakar Rao Kavoor’s play ‘Bhoothala Pandye.’
He said the book award carries a cash prize of Rs 5,000, memento and certificate.
To a query, he said that in the novel category, as many as three novels vied for the award.
In the stories category, four books published during 2011 vied for the award. In the play category, Rathnakar Rao Kavoor’s three plays competed against each other for the award. As per the rules, minimum three books should be there to declare an award.
“Last year, we could not give award in play category as there were only two plays which competed for the award. We are also planning to give award in yakshagana prasanga category from next year.” The award will be presented at Town Hall in Mangalore on May 16 at 3 pm.
Academy members, Registrar Chandrahas Rai was present.
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