New Delhi: Superstar Rajinikanth will be conferred the Padma Vibhushan for his contribution to Indian cinema, the government announced on Monday.
The legendary Tamil actor said he was “deeply honoured”.
“Feeling deeply honoured for being awarded the Padma Vibhushan. My heartfelt thanks to my dear fans, well-wishers and friends for all the wishes,” Rajinikanth tweeted.
Excited over the news, the 65-year-old superstar’s daughter Soundarya Rajnikanth, a filmmaker, tweeted: “Proud daughter! Appa is now Padma Vibhushan Shri Rajinikanth.”
Dhanush, the husband of Rajinikanth’s other daughter Aishwarya, tweeted: “Padma Vibhushan for Thalaivar ... SUPER thrilled, SUPER proud SUPER day can’t get bigger.”
Actress Shriya Saran, who worked with Rajinikanth in “Sivaji”, is very happy as well.
“He deserves more and more awards. He is a superstar not because of his films. He is a superstar because everyone loves him,” she told IANS.
“More than just a star, he is a superb human being. He has superb sense of humour and he is a superstar because he has a kind heart. Working with him was life changing for me,” she added.
The actress loves the fact that he treats everyone with “the same love and dignity. It could be a spot boy, light man, producer or his co-actor. That speaks volumes about a man.”
Rajinikanth, born Shivaji Rao Gaekwad, worked as a bus conductor. But today, he is idolised in the country as a megastar.
He made his debut in Tamil cinema with K. Balachander’s National Award-winning film “Apoorva Raagangal” in 1975.
Honorees
Founder of the Reliance empire late Dhirubhai Ambani, Art of Living founder Sri Sri Ravi Shankar and media baron Ramoji Rao have been chosen for Padma Vibhushan, country’s second highest civilian award, this year.
Former Jammu and Kashmir Governor Jagmohan, former DRDO chief V K Aatre, cancer specialist and chairperson of Adyar Cancer Institute Dr V Shanta and eminent Bharatnatyam and Kuchipudi dancer Yamini Krishnamurthi and classical vocalist Girija Devi and Indian-American economist Avinash Dixit have also been named for Padma Vibhushan on the occasion of this year’s Republic Day celebrations.
Noted actor Anupam Kher, singer Udit Narayan, former CAG Vinod Rai, chairperson of media group Bennett, Coleman & Co. Indu Jain, sports star Sania Mirza and Saina Nehwal, spiritual leaders late Swami Dayanand Saraswati, Swami Tejomayananda and former US Ambassador to India Robert Blackwill are among the 19 eminent people chosen for Padma Bhushan.
Industrialist Pallonji Shapoorji Mistry, Maruti Suzuki chairman R C Bhargava and eminent architect Hafeez Contractor also figure in the list of Padma Bhushan awardees.
Padma awardees
PADMA VIBHUSHAN (10 winners)
Yamini Krishnamurthi (Art-Classical dance), Rajinikanth (Art-Cinema), Girija Devi (Art-Classical Vocal), Ramoji Rao (Literature & Education), Viswanathan Shanta (Medicine-Oncology), Ravi Shankar (Others-Spiritualism), Jagmohan (Public Affairs), Vasudev Kalkunte Aatre (Science & Engineering), Avinash Dixit (Indian-American economist), Dhiru Bhai Ambani (Posthumous, Industry)
PADMA BHUSHAN (19 winners)
Anupam Kher (Art-Cinema), Udit Narayan Jha (Art-Playback Singing), Ram V. Sutar (Art-Sculpture), Heisnam Kanhailal (Art-Theatre), Vinod Rai (Civil Service), Yarlagadda Lakshmi Prasad (Literature), N S Ramanuja Tatacharya (Literature), Barjinder Singh Hamdard (Journalism), D Nageshwar Reddy (Medicine), Swami Tejomayananda (Spiritualism), Hafeez Contractor (Architecture), Ravindra Chandra Bhargava (Public Affairs), Venkata Rama Rao Alla (Science), Saina Nehwal (Sports-Badminton), Sania Mirza (Sports-Tennis), Indu Jain (Trade & Industry), Swami Dayanand Sarawasati (Posthumous, Spiritualism), Robert Blackwill (Public Affairs, US), Pallonji Shapoorji Mistry (Trade & Industry, Ireland)
PADMA SHRI (83 winners)
Prathibha Prahlad (art-classical dance), Bhikhudan Gadhvi (art-folk music), Sribhas Chandra Supakar (art-textile designing), Ajay Devgn (art-cinema), Priyanka Chopra (art-cinema), Pt. Tulsidas Borkar (art-classical music), Dr Soma Ghosh (art-classical vocal), Nila Madhab Panda (art-film direction and production), S.S. Rajamouli (art-film direction and production), Madhur Bhandarkar (art-film direction and production), Prof M. Venkatesh Kumar (Art-Folk Artist), Gulabi Sapera (art-folk dance), Mamta Chandrakar (art-folk music), Malini Awasthi (art-folk music), Jai Prakash Lekhiwal (art-miniature painting), K. Laxma Goud (art-painting), Bhalchandra Dattatray Mondhe (art-photography), Naresh Chander Lal (art-theatre and cinema), Dhirendra Nath Bezbaruah (literature and education), Prahlad Chandra Tasa (literature and education), Dr Ravindra Nagar (literature and education), Dahyabhai Shastri (literature and education), Santeshivara Bhyrappa (literature and education), Haldar Nag (literature and education), Kameshwaram Brahma (literature and education-journalism), Prof Pushpesh Pant (literature and education-journalism), Jawaharlal Kaul (literature and education-journalism), Ashok Malik (literature and education), Dr Mannam Gopi Chand (medicine-cardiothoracic surgery), Prof Ravi Kant (medicine-surgery), Prof Ram Harsh Singh (medicine-ayurveda), Prof Shiv Narain Kureel (medicine-paediatric surgery), Dr Sabyasachi Sarkar (medicine-radiology), Dr Alla Gopala Krishna Gokhale (medicine-cardiac surgery), Prof T.K. Lahiri (medicine-cardiothoracic surgery), Dr Praveen Chandra (medicine-cardiology), Prof Daljeet Singh Gambhir (medicine-cardiology), Dr Chandrasekar Shesadri Thoguluva (medicine-gastroenterology), Dr Anil Kumari Malhotra (medicine-homeopathy), Prof M.V. Padma Srivastava (medicine-neurology), Dr Sudhir V. Shah (medicine-neurology), Dr M.M. Joshi (medicine-ophthalmology), Prof (Dr) John Ebnezar (medicine-orthopaedic surgery), Dr Nayudamma Yarlagadda (medicine-paediatric surgery), Shri Simon Oraon (other-environment conservation), Imitiaz Qureshi (other-culinary), Piyush Pandey (others-advertising and communication), Subhash Palekar (others-farming), Ravinder Kumar Sinha (others-wildlife conservation), Dr H.R. Nagendra (others-yoga), M.C. Mehta (public affairs), M.N. Krishna Mani (public affairs), Ujjwal Nikam (public affairs), Tokheho Sema (public affairs), Dr Satish Kumar (science and engineering), Dr Mylswamy Annadurai (science and engineering), Prof Dipankar Chatterji (science and engineering), Prof (Dr) Ganapati Dadasaheb Yadav (science and engineering), Prof Veena Tandon (science and engineering), Onkar Nath Srivastava (science and engineering) Ms Sunita Krishnan (social work), Ajoy Kumar Dutta (social work), M. Pandit Dasa (social work), P.P. Gopinathan Nair (social work), Madeleine Herman de Blic (social work), Srinivasan Damal Kandalai (social work), Sudhakar Olwe (social work) Dr T.V. Narayana (social work), Arunachalam Murugantham (social work), Deepika Kumari (sports-archery), Sushil Doshi (sports-commentary), Mahesh Sharma (trade and industry), Saurabh Srivastava (trade and industry), Dilip Sanghvi (trade and industry), Dr Keki Hormusji Gharda (trade and industry), late Prakash Chand Surana (posthumous) (art-classical music), late Saeed Jaffrey (art-cinema), Michael Postel (art-archaeology), Salman Amin Sal Khan (literature and education), Hui Lan Zhang (others-yoga), Predrag K. Nikic (others-yoga), Dr Sundar Aditya Menon (social work) and Ajaypal Singh Banga (trade and industry).
