UNI

Kolkata, Jan 23: Acclaimed filmmaker Shyam Benegal and actor Sachin Khedekar will be conferred upon the Netaji Award 2006 for their film Bose: The Forgotten Hero, the Netaji Research Bureau announced.

The Award will also be offered posthumously to Habib-ur-Rehman, Netaji's chief of staff in the Azad Hind Government, at the traditional Netaji Birthday Assembly at Netaji Bhawan here on January 23, Netaji Research Bureau chairperson Krishna Basu said in a release here.

Habib-ur-Rehman's family is coming from Pakistan to receive the Award. West Bengal Governor Gopal Krishna Gandhi will preside over the function.

Janaki Thevar Athinahappan, the Second-in-Command of the Rani of Jhansi Regiment has arrived from Malazia to address the assembly.

Other close associates of Netaji and Netaji's biographer Leonard A Gordon will be present on the occasion. A special Netaji Birthday Concert titled Freedom will be performed by Tanmoy Bose's 'Taal Tantra'.

On the eve of Netaji's birthday a documentary film Asli Azaadi, on the role of women in the freedom struggle will be screened at Netaji Bhawan which will be followed by a lecture from Leonard Gordon.