Five from Chandigarh Tricity win Sangeet Natak Akademi Award

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, November 27

In all, five personalities from Tricity have won Sangeet Natak Akademi Award for the years 2019, 2020 and 2021 announced on Friday.

Hindustani vocalist Pt Bhim Sen Sharma and Punjab gharana’s tabla exponent Sushil Kumar Jain have been awarded with Lifetime Presidential Award under the “Azadi Ka Amrit Mahotsav”.

The announcement made Jain’s 76th birthday celebrations special. “I am overwhelmed with the love and wishes from India and Pakistan,” said Jain.

Pt Sharma (86) got the rare honour of being awarded for both Hindustani vocal and instrumental music. “I credit this honour to my gurus. I am grateful to the Sangeet Natak Akademi for having considered me deserving of this honour,” he says.

He has been regular with “riyaz” to date and continues to train his disciples.

Balkar Sidhu and Sudesh Sharma are the recipients of Sangeet Natak Akademi Award in the field of Punjab folk dance and theatre direction, respectively.

“It’s indeed a great honour that has come after working tirelessly for several decades,” said Sidhu.

“It’s the ‘taliyaan’ at the end of the play that make us strive hard to do theatre. This prestigious honour inspires me to work with even more enthusiasm and dedication,” noted Sharma.

Abhimanyu Imroz, who started from humble beginnings, has received Ustad Bismillah Khan Yuva Puraskar. “I got my love for arts from my father who was a ‘naqal’ dancer, but had to give up his passion to earn a living by doing menial jobs. I wish he was alive today to see that art can earn you a living. To win a national award is an honour that I couldn’t even dream of,” says Imroz, who has been part of theatre since the age of nine.

Atul Sharma, CSNA chairman, said, “It is a matter of great pride for the City Beautiful.”

The Sangeet Natak Akademi has selected 128 artistes from the fields of music, dance, theatre, traditional folk, tribal music, dance and puppetry for their contribution to performing arts.

Other awardees include Anup Jalota (Sugam Sangeet), Vinayak Torvi (Hindustani vocal), Kottakkal Nandakumaran Nair (kathakali) and Vilas Janve (mime). President Droupadi Murmu will soon give away the awards at a special ceremony.

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