By A Correspondent / MUMBAI
Maharashtra government has decided to confer prestigious Raj Kapoor Lifetime Achievement award to Veteran Bollywood actor Dharmendra and Raj Kapoor Special Contribution awards to filmmaker Rajkumar Hirani
Maharashtra Culture Minister Vinod Tawde tweeted the names of the winners on Sunday. He said he is delighted to announce the names of veteran actor Dharmendra and director Raj Kumar Hirani as winners for this year’s award.
Versatile actor Dharmendra has acted in more than 250 films in over six decades and has over 100 box office hits including Sholey, Bandini, Mamta, Anupama, Satyakam, Seeta Aur Geeta, Chupke Chupke, Yaadon Ki Baarat to name a few.
Mr Hirani is regarded as one of the most celebrated filmmakers of Hindi cinema, having made critically-acclaimed and commercially-successful films such as “Munna Bhai MBBS”, “3 Idiots” and “PK”.
Mr Tawde also announced the names of Veteran Marathi actor Vijay Chavhan for V Shantaram Lifetime Achievement award and actor-director Mrinal Kulkarni for V Shantaram Special Contribution awards and congratulated the winners for achieving the feat.
Delighted to announce veteran actor Dharmendra ji as the recipient of Maharashtra State’s Raj Kapoor Lifetime Achievement Award and Director Rajkumar Hirani on being selected for the Raj Kapoor Special Contributions Award. Congratulations!
— Vinod Tawde (@TawdeVinod) April 15, 2018
Chavhan, who is a well-known Marathi stage actor, has appeared in many Marathi films as well as on television. He is best known for the his role of Mavshi in the famous Marathi stage drama “Moruchi Mavshi”.
He has also worked in Hindi films. Kulkarni has worked, both in films and TV, and is best known for featuring in the television show “Son Pari”. She also directed “Prem Mhanje Prem Asta” and the Marathi historical drama “Rama Madhav”.
Both the lifetime achievement awards carry a citation and cash reward of five lakh rupees while the special contribution awards carry a citation and three lakh rupees cash prize each. The state government-instituted awards will be given away at the 55th Maharashtra State Marathi Film Festival.
