| Film industry wants Bharat Ratna for Dilip Kumar |
| New Delhi, PTI: |
From South Indian superstar Rajnikanth to Bollywood Baadshah Shahrukh Khan, members of Indian film fraternity are putting their might behind a petition appealing that the Bharat Ratna be conferred on movie legend Dilip Kumar. |
| The initative started by director Mahesh Bhatt has been backed by some of the biggest names in showbiz including Aamir Khan, Kamal Haasan, Yash Chopra, Mamooty, Rakesh Roshan, Subhash Ghai, Chiranjeevi, Ramesh Sippy, Mukesh Bhatt among others. "Dilip Kumar, the icon is as old as the Indian film industry. He is the symbol of secular India and has an unmatched career record spanning from pre-independence years till the last decade," Bhatt said. With a plan to involve millions of Dilip Kumar fans in the initiative, a Facebook community "Dilip Kumar for Bharat Ratna" has been started which has 1000 members till date with its ranks swelling very day. "The people of India would like to send their fervent request to the Government of India to confer the prestigious Bharat Ratna, India's highest civilian honour, for the best actor in the country, Shri Dilip Kumar," reads the web page of the community. "The imitative is not an agenda being pushed by the film industry but it also has the support of thousands of Dilip Sahab's fans," Bhatt added. The petition will be presented to the President, Prime Minister and the Information and Broadcasting ministry, Bhatt said. The Facebook community supporting the petition includes prominent names like Rajeev Khandelwal, Priyanka Chopra, Kajol, Randeep Hooda, Salma Agha, Runa Laila, Mukul Dev and Khalid Mohammad. Dilip Kumar, popularly known as 'Tragedy King of Bollywood', started his acting career with 'Jwar Bhata' in 1944, went on to act in classics like, 'Andaz' (1949) 'Deedar' (1951), 'Aan' (1952), 'Devdas' (1955), 'Mughal-E-Azam' (1960), 'Ganga Jamuna' (1961), 'Madhumati' (1958). He has won an unparalleled eight Filmfare Best Actor Awards. The Government of India in 1994 awarded him with Dadasaheb Phalke Award-- the highest award for cinematic excellence in India. In the year 1998, Nishan-e-Pakistan, the highest civilian award of Pakistan was conferred upon the thespian. In 1998, Kumar made his last film appearance in the box office flop 'Qila'. Legendary filmmaker Satyajit Ray was the first person from the film fraternity to receive the highest civilian award. Apart from Ray, music icons like singer Lata Mangeshkar, shehnai maestro Bismillah Khan, Carnatic vocalist M S Subbulakshmi, sitar player Ravi Shankar, classical singer and Bhimsen Joshi have been the recipients of the honour. |
Indian Hindi film industry Bollywood is advocating to honour the great thespian Dilip Kumar with Bharat Ratna, the highest civilian award of the country. Bollywood's accomplished director Mahesh Bhatt has started an initiative through famous social networking website Facebook through a petition appealing the Government of India to confer the Bharat Ratna on the 86-year-old cinema legend.
Mahesh Bhatt has created a community on Facebook titled "Dilip Kumar for Bharat Ratna" with an aim to involve millions of Dilip Kumar's fans. "Dilip Kumar, the icon is as old as the Indian film industry. He is the symbol of secular India and has an unmatched career record spanning from pre-independence years till the last decade," said Mahesh Bhatt.
Mahesh Bhatt told, "It is the entire industry's effort. From every region, stalwarts have come out to appeal for him. I was just a foot soldier. It is the Indian film industry's effort, not an individual's effort."
In fact, Mahesh Bhatt's unique initiative has been supported by the members of Indian film fraternity as well. Along with Bollywood's biggies Yash Chopra, Aamir Khan, Shahrukh Khan, Rakesh Roshan, Subhash Ghai, Mukesh Bhatt and Ramesh Sippy, South Indian stars like Rajnikanth, Kamal Haasan, Chiranjeevi and Mamooty are supporting the move.
Sach Ka Saaman fame Rajeev Khandelwal is supporting the cause with other celebrities such as Mukul Dev, Shabbir Ahluwalia, Varun Badola, Randeep Hooda and Urvashi Dholakia. Noted film critic and filmmaker Khalid Mohammed, director Prabhakar Shukla and Bangladeshi singer Runa Laila have also joined the effort.
The members of the community "Dilip Kumar for Bharat Ratna" have been asked to "leave a comment or endorse by replying a one liner - I endorse that Dilip Kumar is the most deserving person to be honoured with the Bharat Ratna." Many of his fans as well as members of the industry have put out individual comments.
Since its inception, the community has got awesome response from Facebook users. Till date, the community has over 1000 members and the number is increasing swelling every day.
The community has been created to seek 100,000 solidarity comments from people so that the administrators of the website can compile all the comments in a book and submit it to the President as well as the Prime Minister of India.
Renowned as the 'Tragic King of Bollywood', Dilip Kumar started his career in 1944, with Jwar Bhata and worked in over 60 movies. Married to actress Saira Bano, Dilip Kumar is known for his unparalleled performances in movies like Mughal-e-Azam, Madhumati, Naya Daur, Leader, Aadmi, Ram Aur Shyam, Gopi, Devdas, Ganga Jamuna, Kranti, Shakti and Karma.
Established in 1954 by the first President of India, Bharat Ratna has not been awarded to any actor. Satyajit Roy was the first person from the Indian entertainment industry to get the Bharat Ratna in 1992. Singer Lata Mangeshkar, Carnatic music vocalist MS Subbulakshmi, shehnai maestro Bismillah Khan, sitar player Ravi Shankar and classical singer Bhimsen Joshi have been honoured with the Bharat Ratna.
Dilip Kumar has been a source of inspiration for younger actors including millennium star Amitabh Bachchan, Dharmendra and Shahrukh Khan. Even today in his late 80s the great actor is carrying his legacy and he deserves India 's highest civilian honour. Hope the movement of Dilip Kumar's fans and Indian film fraternity will be a success.
Source: Merinews.com
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The community is trying to seek solidarity from people so that the comments could be forwarded to the President and the Prime Minister. Mahesh Bhatt said that it is the effort of the whole film industry and not the work of a few individuals.
Celebrities like Rajeev Khandelwal, Mukul Dev, Shabbir Ahluwalia, Varun Badola, Randeep Hooda, Urvashi Dholakia, Film critic and filmmaker Khalid Mohammed, director Prabhakar Shukla and popular Bangladeshi singer Runa Laila have joined the cause.
The 86-year-old actor is known for his performance in films like Devdas, Madhumati, Ganga Jamuna, Mughal-E-Azam, Shakti and Karma. He has won eight Filmfare Best Actor Awards out of 19 nominations. He was honoured with the Filmfare Lifetime Achievement award in 1992 and the Government of India conferred him with the Dada Saheb Phalke award, the highest award for cinematic excellence in India, in the year 1994. He is also a recipient of Nishan-e-Pakistan, Pakistan's highest civilian award. He was also awarded CNN-IBN Indian of the year - Lifetime achievement award in 2009.
Filmmaker Satyajit Ray was the first person from the film industry to receive Bharat Ratna and no actor has been conferred with the honour so far. However, music greats like Carnatic music vocalist M.S. Subbulakshmi, sitar player Ravi Shankar, singer Lata Mangeshkar, shehnai maestro Bismillah Khan and classical singer Bhimsen Joshi have been conferred with the honour.
Now, the Indian film fraternity is trying to urge the government to make veteran actor Dilip Kumar the first recipient of this coveted award.
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