Madhya Pradesh to honour veteran star Manoj Kumar

Bhopal, Feb 16 (IANS) Veteran actor and director Manoj Kumar will be conferred the Kishore Kumar Award by the Madhya Pradesh government for his contribution to cinema.

Besides, the government would confer the Lata Mangeshkar Award for playback singing to Nitin Mukesh while the Iqbal Samman would be awarded to noted Urdu writer Iqbal Majid. The recipients would get Rs.200,000 each and a citation.

Violinist Kala Ramnath would be honoured with the Kumar Gandharv Award, which carries a reward of Rs.100,000, a shawl and a `Shriphal', said Culture and Public Relations Minister Lakshmikant Sharma in a statement here Friday.

The minister said that the date for giving away the awards are yet to be finalised.

'Noted actor, director, producer, lyricist and script writer Manoj Kumar, who possesses a multi-dimensional personality, has made movies based on moral values and patriotism. They include 'Shaheed', 'Upkar', 'Purab Aur Pashchim', 'Yadgar', 'Shor', 'Roti Kapda aur Makan' and 'Kranti' in which he has carried out many responsibilities including script writing, lyrics composition, direction and acting,' Sharma said.

'Nitin Mukesh sang his first film song in the film 'Dhuwen Ki Lakeer' in 1974 which was a duet with Vani Jayaram and later in several film including 'Satyam Shivam Sundaram', 'Noori', 'Trishul', 'Chandni', 'Kranti', 'Nakhuda', 'Khudgharz' and 'Tezaab'. He has also been an assistant of film director and producer late Hrishikesh Mukherjee in many films,' he added.

Urdu litterateur Iqbal Majid, who has been selected for Iqbal Samman, has been active in the field of writing since 1956. Several collections of his short stories have been published. Majid has presented the Hindi version of Dostoevsky's famous novel 'Crime and Punishment'.

Kala Ramnath, who has been named for the National Kumar Gandharv Award, got her early training in violin playing from T.N. Krishnan and N. Rajan. She had performed as violinist at various prestigious events in India and abroad. She has also received the Surmani, Sur Ratna and Pandit Jasraj Gaurav awards.