Aadharshila urges Govt to honour veteran actors with Padma Awards

16 September, New Delhi

Aadharshila, a group of eminent citizens, Friday appealed to the Central Government to honour veteran actors Jeetendra, Mumtaz, Tanuja, Rishi Kapoor, Juhi Chawla, Shammi Kapoor and Dara Singh with Padma Awards.

Aadharshila, the group of writers, journalists and artists also congratulated and appreciated Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Home Minister Rajnath Singh, for making Padma Awards ‘transparent.’

Aadharshila president Pradeep Sardana, a senior journalist and film critic, has written a letter to President Pranab Mukherjee, the Prime Minister and Singh and appealed to them to give recognition to these cine artists this year.

It lamented that despite their utmost contribution to the art, these dignitaries have not been honoured even with Padma Shree, not to talk of Padma Vibhushan and Padma Bhushan.

Sardana has said that the Centre has honoured 2679 people in total, with Padma Shree, from 1954 till 2016, but in these 62 years, there are many film dignitaries who have been ignored. On the other hand, many artists who have been much junior and ‘ordinary,’ had been honoured with Padma Awards, he added.