Padma Vibhushan for M Venkaiah Naidu, Vyjayanthimala Bali, K Chiranjeevi

Tribune News Service

Animesh Singh

New Delhi, January 25

Veteran actor Vyjayanthimala Bali, Telugu superstar K Chiranjeevi, former Vice President M Venkaiah Naidu, founder of Sulabh movement Bindeshwar Pathak and Bharatnatyam exponent Padma Subrahmanyam have been selected for the 2024 Padma Vibhushan awards.

Actor Mithun Chakraborty, India's first woman Supreme Court judge Fathima Beevi (posthumous), veteran Hindi film music director Pyarelal of the famed Laxmikant-Pyarelal duo, Foxconn CEO Young Liu, singer Usha Uthup, pioneer of interventional cardiology Ashwin Balachand Mehta, veteran BJP leader Ram Naik and late West Bengal BJP leader Satyabrata Mookherjee, are among the 17 persons selected for Padma Bhushan awards. As many as 110 persons have been given Padma Shri awards.

17 get padma bhushan

• Mithun Chakraborty, Usha Uthup among 17 Padma Bhushan awardees
• 110 persons awarded Padma Shri, 34 ‘unsung heroes’ among them

Of the five Padma Vibhushan awardees, Vyajayanthimala and Padma Subrahmanyam are from Tamil Nadu, while Chiranjeevi and Venkaiah Naidu are from Andhra Pradesh. Pathak, who has been awarded the honour posthumously, was from Bihar.

With the BJP focusing on South India for the forthcoming Lok Sabha elections, the recipients of India’s second highest civilian award have been carefully chosen from the southern states.

Vyajayanthimala Bali, 90, a recipient of five Filmfare awards, made her film debut as a teenager in Tamil film "Vazhkai" in 1949. Later, she made debut in Hindi film "Bahar" in 1951.

Her breakthrough role came in the 1954 film, "Nagin", whose song "Mann Dole, Mera Tann Dole," remains an evergreen hit. She went on to do several several iconic films with thespian Dilip Kumar like "Devdas", "Madhumati", "Ganga Jumna", "Naya Daur" and "Leader", while with Raj Kapoor she did the cult hit "Sangam", and "Jewel Thief" with Dev Anand. An exponent of Bharatnatyam, she also won the Sangeet Natak Akademi award.

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