Dharmendra, Satish Shah to Receive Posthumous Padma Awards; Mammootty Honoured

Malayalam cinema legend Mammootty will also be lionised with Padma Bhushan. Veteran playback singer Alka Yagnik, and the late advertising legend Piyush Pandey have also been selected for Padma Bhushan. R Madhavan and Bengali cinema legend Prosenjit Chatterjee have also been named Padma Shri awardees.

Both Dharmendra and Satish Shah passed away last year. While Dharmendra left for his heavenly abode in November, Satish Shah departed a month prior to Dharmendra.

Dharmendra was one of Bollywood's most enduring and beloved stars. He was born in 1935 in Punjab, and began his career in the early 1960s, after he was discovered through a talent hunt competition. In the late 1950s, Filmfare magazine, in collaboration with Bimal Roy Productions, organized a nationwide talent contest to find new faces for Hindi cinema. He entered the competition and was selected as the winner in 1958, chosen for his striking looks and natural charm. This victory opened the door to the film industry for him.

Satish Shah was one of Indian cinema and television's most beloved character actors, known for his impeccable comic timing and expressive versatility. He rose to fame with iconic TV shows like 'Yeh Jo Hai Zindagi', where he played multiple hilarious characters, and later 'Sarabhai vs Sarabhai', as the eccentric Indravadan Sarabhai. He often stole scenes with his humor and warmth. With a career spanning over four decades, he was a master of subtle, intelligent comedy in Indian entertainment.

Talking about Alka Yagnik, she made her playback debut as a child artist and rose to prominence in the early 1990s. She has won multiple Filmfare Awards for Best Female Playback Singer and recorded songs in several Indian languages. Her voice became closely associated with leading actresses of the era. In recent years, she has also been noted for high global streaming numbers across music platforms.

- IANS