At last, UP Sangeet Natak Akademi awards for 2003-2008 distributed
LUCKNOW: The much awaited and long overdue UP Sangeet Natak Akademi awards to artistes from the field of music and theatre were finally given away here on Monday. The award function held on Monday felicitated awardees from 2003-2008. The award comprised a cash of `10,000, a shawl and citation.
Though the list comprised names of doyens like Pt Channulal Mishra, Pt Hari Prasad Chaurasia, Pt Rajan Sajan Mishra, Anoop Jalota and Anil Rastogi , some of the senior artistes did not attend the event. Pt Channu Lal Mishra, who attended the event, was felicitated with the Akademi’s Ratna Samman for the year 2006. He laid emphasis on the need to start formal training of thumri on a large scale to ensure that the art survived . Senior theatre, television and film actor Anil Rastogi , who was also felicitated with the Akademi’s Ratna Samman for 2007, expressed his gratitude to the officials of the culture department who made the award function possible. The SNA awards had been pending since 2003 and despite the announcement of awards from 2003 to 2008, there had been no award function.
State minister for culture Arun Kumarin Kori said that efforts were on to ensure that the award declaration and distribution for 2009-2016 was also done at the earliest.
Among the awardees were actor Atul Tewari who was felicitated for the SNA award for 2004. He said, “Just as justice delayed is justice denied, delayed awards mean the charm is lost. Had the awards been given the year they were declared, the charm would have been different altogether.” Another awardee singer Padma Gidwani who was felicitated with the SNA award for 2003 said, “We had actually lost all hopes of receiving the award. But we are glad that the department finally thought of giving it.” Some awardees, including Pt Amarnath MIshra of Varanasi, kathak exponent Pt Arjun MIshra, theatre expert Jugal Kishore and litterateur Mudra Rakshas received the award posthumously. “When the awards were declared they were hale and hearty people. But the delay made their awards posthumous. It would have been great had they received the hounour in their own hands,” lamented the awardees unanimously.
Secretary, culture Hariom said, “Art is not just talent. It is also a responsibility towards society.” He said that it wasn’t always easy to understand and appreciate art and so the culture department felt honoured in felicitating the artists for their contributions.