Ashok Saraf, Rajeev Verma, Bombay Jayashri to receive Sangeet Natak Akademi Award

New Delhi: Ten artists from Karnataka have been recognised with the Sahitya Akademi award, including veena maestro R Visweswaran, who was announced as an Akademi fellow among a list of six. Among the 92 artists who will receive the prestigious award for the years 2022 and 2023, nine are from the state.

“The Fellows and Awardees so selected represent the nation as a whole, and belong to different States and Union Territories. Besides, these eminent artists cover the entire gamut of the performing arts forms expressed in the form of music, dance, drama, folk & tribal art, puppetry and allied theatre art forms etc,” the Akademi said in a release. 

In the release, the Akademi stated that the General Council of Sangeet Natak Akademi and the National Academy of Music, Dance and Drama, at a meeting held on February 21 and 22, unanimously elected six eminent personalities in the field of performing arts as Akademi Fellows, or Akademi Ratna, apart from selecting 92 artists from the field of music, dance, theatre, traditional or folk or tribal music, dance and theatre, in addition to puppetry and overall contribution in the performing arts for the Sangeet Natak Akademi Awards (Akademi Puraskar) for 2022 and 2023. Additionally, 80 young artists were selected for Sangeet Natak Akademi Ustad Bismillah Khan Yuva Puraskar.

The National Academy of Music, Dance and Drama elects eminent personalities in the field of performing arts as Akademi Fellows. Apart from Visweswaran, those announced as Akademi fellows include folklorist Vinayak Khedekar, Kuchipudi artists Raja and Radha Reddy, Kathak artiste Sunayana Hazarilal, theatrist Dulal Roy, and playwright DP Sinha. The fellowship comes with a prize money of Rs 3 lakh.

For the year 2022, from Karnataka, veena player Jayanthi Kumaresh received the Sangeet Natak Akademi Award (Akademi Puruskar) in the field of music under the Carnatic instrumental category. In the field of dance, the award was given to Pusthakam Ramaa Music.

Three artists were awarded the Puruskar for 2023 – musician Kalapini Komkali for the Hindustani Vocal category in the field of music, violinist HK Venkataram in the Carnatic Instrumental category, and Nirupama & Rajendra in the field of dance under the Creative & Experimental Dance category. It must be added that Komkali is the daughter of Kumar Gandharva.

The Ustad Bismillah Khan Yuva Puraskar for the year 2022 was conferred to playwright Belur Raghunandan in the field of theatre and to veena player Sahana SV in the field of music. For the year 2023, the Ustad Bismillah Khan Yuva Puraskar was given to vocalist SR Vinay Sharva. The award comes with a prize money of Rs 25,000.

Other recipients of the award include actors Ashok Saraf and Rajeev Verma, and singer Bombay Jayashri.