New Delhi, Mar 26 (IANS): Two National School of Drama (NSD) awards, being presented after a gap of nine years, were on Tuesday presented to young and established NSD graduates for their contributions to the field of theatre.
The B.V. Karanth Smriti Puraskar was conferred upon 9 senior graduates above 50 years of age, and the Manohar Singh Smriti Puraskar upon 10 graduates below the age of 50.
The first was received by theatre practitioners Ram Gopal Bajaj, Devendra Raj Ankur, Bansi Kaul, Neelam Mansingh Chowdhry, Ranjit Kapoor, Rajoo Barot, Waman Kendre, Satyabrata Rout, and C. Basavalingaiah for the years 2011-2019.
The latter, on the other hand, was received by younger theatre practitioners, starting from the year 2009. These are Abhilash Pillai (Special Award), Aniruddha Khutwad, Chittaranjan Tripathy, Asif Ali Haider Khan, Souti Chakraborty, Teekam Joshi, Danish Iqbal, Sukumar Tudu, Govind Singh Yadav, and Ipshita Chakraborty Singh.
The awards were given out by scholar Kapila Vatsyayan, theatre personality Mohan Maharishi, NSD Acting Chairman Arjun Deo Charan and NSD Director In-charge Suresh Sharma.
Each awardee received an appreciation letter and Rs 1 lakh.
In 2004, the first B.V Karanth Smriti Puraskar was given to Ratan Thiyam and the first Manohar Singh Smriti Puraskar to Waman Kendre.