Chennai: Besides actor-choreographer Prabhu Deva, percussionist Shivamani, playback singer Shankar Mahadevan and Bollywood actor Manoj Bajapayee have been selected for Padmashri awards.
Prabhu Deva has completed over 25 years in film industry and made a name for himself as actor, director, dancer and choreographer. The multi-talented artiste has directed several films in Hindi, Tamil and Telugu.
Anandan Sivamani popularly known as Drums Mani, is India’s leading percussionist. He plays many instruments including drums, octoban, darbuka, udukai, ghatam and kanjira. He performed drumming during the IPL Championships in 2008 and 2010. He is affiliated with the Chennai Super Kings team, but gained recognition through his role as A R Rahman’s lead percussionist. He has also composed music for few films.
Popular singer-composer Shankar Mahadevan has crooned several thousand songs in various languages. He composed music for many movies including Kamal Haasan starrer Viswaroopam. He graduated in 1988 with a degree in Computer Science and Software Engineering from the Ramrao Adik Institute of Technology in Navi Mumbai. After working for Leading Edge Systems (now Trigyn Technologies Limited), Mahadevan ventured into music.
Manoj Bajpayee has acted in Hindi, Tamil and Telugu movies. He is the recipient of two National Film Awards. He made his feature film debut with a one-minute role in Drohkaal (1994), and a minor role of a dacoit in Shekhar Kapur’s Bandit Queen (1994). After a few unnoticed roles, he played the gangster Bhiku Mhatre in Ram Gopal Varma’s 1998 crime drama Satya, which proved to be a breakthrough.
Bollywood actor Khader Khan, who passed away recently, was also selected for the honour.
Big honour for Mohanlal
Actor Mohanlal won the Padma Bhushan Award on Friday. The actor, fondly called Lalettan by his legion of fans, won Padma Shri in 2001. He joined the Territorial Army as an honorary lieutenant colonel on 9 July, 2009. Apart from this, he has twice won the national award for best actor. Though he debuted through Thiranottam (1978), his portrayal of antagonist Narendran in his second movie Manjil Virinja Pookkal (1980) gave him the much-needed break. He won his first national award for Bharatham in 1991 and the second for Vanaparastham in 1999. Mohanlal has acted in more than 300 films in Malayalam along with some notable movies in Hindi, Telugu, Kannada and Tamil.