Mumbai, Nov 11 (IANS): The Maharashtra government has selected veteran playback singer and National Award winner Suresh Ishwar Wadkar for its prestigious 'Gansamragini Lata Mangeshkar Award' for 2023, Cultural Affairs Minister Sudhir Mungantiwar announced here on Saturday.

A Sangeet Natak Akademi laureate (2018), Wadkar, 68, will be presented with a cash prize, a commendation and a memento as part of the award at a ceremony later, an official said.

Hailing from an ordinary family of Kolhapur, in his younger days, Wadkar was a wrestler and then became a music teacher in Mumbai before winning a singing competition 1976 that got him his first playback singing break with the late music director Ravindra Jain in 1977.

His earliest hit numbers were “Sona Kare jhilmil jhilmil” (film ‘Paheli’), “Seene Me Jalan” (‘Gaman’), which caught Lata Mangeshkar’s attention and she recommended him to other top music composers of the day.

Over the years, Wadkar sang for top Hindi and Marathi directors giving memorable hits for 'Krodhi', 'Hum Paanch', 'Pyaasa Sawan', 'Prem Rog', 'Henna', 'Prem Granth', 'Ram Teri Ganga Maili', 'Parinda', and 'Sadma', among others.

Besides teaching music to the gen-next, he sang in multiple Indian languages, and in different genres.

Mungantiwar also announced other major awardees in various categories including Pandit Ulhas Kashalkar, Pandit Shashikant S. Mulye, Suhasini Deshpande, Ashok Samel, Naina Apte-Joshi, Pandit Makarand Kundle and more artistes.