Sangeet Natak Akademi Award, also known as the Akademi Puraskar, is an award given by the Sangeet Natak Akademi, India's National Academy of Music, Dance & Drama. It is the highest Indian recognition given to people in the field of performing arts.
Keshto Mukherjee was an Indian actor and comedian. He was born in Kolkata, Bengal Presidency, British India. He specialised in comic drunkard roles in Hindi films. Though he was famous for his drunkard typecast role in Hindi films, he was a teetotaller throughout his life. However in his own interview published in the Stardust magazine in 1981, he mentioned the following; "I drink a lot. I started boozing when I left my home town and came to Bombay to become a film hero. I lived in a dingy room in the railway quarters with nothing to eat, but lots to drink. I drank because I was frustrated. I didn’t have any work. I drank to get some sleep, to forget that there were rats running all around the place, that there was a dog sleeping next to me. I drank to relieve the tension. And I only had daaru as my true friend. And again, it was because of this daaru that I gained popularity. Today, if anyone says my name, everyone pictures a bevda. I cannot ditch my friend now. I still drink. The only day when I didn’t touch a drop of liquor was on my wedding day."
Ramayan is a 1954 Hindi religious film based on Valmiki's Ramayana, produced and directed by Vijay Bhatt for Prakash Pictures. The music directors were Shankar Rao Vyas and Hariprasanna Das and the lyrics were written by Ramesh Gupta, Pandit Indra, Neelkanth Tiwari, Baalam Pardesi. The film starred Prem Adib and Shobhana Samarth once again as Rama and Sita. The two actors had earlier acted in a trilogy of Bhatt's films based on the Ramayana, Bharat Milap (1942), Ram Rajya (1943) and Rambaan (1946). All three had been extremely successful, with the audience accepting them in the traditional roles. The other costars included Shahu Modak, Durga Khote, and Umakant.
Surendra was an Indian singer-actor of Hindi films. Known by his mononym, Surendra was born and educated in Punjab to be a lawyer by profession. He came to Bombay to become a singer on the recommendation of a Delhi distributor and his friends. He was "picked" by Mehboob Khan whom he met at Sagar Movietone, to sing and act in films as an alternative to the then Calcutta-based singer-actor, K. L. Saigal. Surendra started his career with his debut starring role in Deccan Queen (1936), directed by Mehboob Khan. He soon became a part of Sagar Movietone when his song "Birha Ki Aag Lagi More Man Mein" from the film became an "instant hit".
Sabita Devi (1914–1965) was a Hindi film actress in Indian cinema. She is stated to be one of the "prominent" leading ladies of the "pioneering era" of Indian cinema along with Mehtab, Bibbo, Durga Khote, Gohar, Devika Rani and Seeta Devi. A Jewish by birth, she changed her name to find acceptability in Hindi cinema like the other Anglo-Indian and Jewish actresses of her time, Sulochana, Seeta Devi, Madhuri, and Manorama. After initially working with British Dominion Films Ltd., Calcutta, she shifted to Bombay and performed mainly in films produced by Sagar Movietone with her co-star in most films being Motilal. Some of the popular films with Motilal were Dr. Madhurika (1935) and Kulvadhu (1937) directed by Sarvottam Badami. Their first film together was Shaher Ka Jadoo (1934), which was also Motilal's debut film, and then Lagna Bandhan (1936) both directed by Kaliprasad Ghosh. She acted in Silver King (1935) with Motilal. It was an action film directed by C. M. Luhar, which became a "huge success".
The Children's literature in Gujarati language of India has its roots in traditional folk literature, Puranic literature, epics and fables from Sanskrit literature. Following 1830s, the large number of stories and fables adapted and translated from various traditional and western sources started to appear in Gujarati. Led by Gijubhai Badheka and Nanabhai Bhatt, the children's literature expanded rapidly in form of stories, poems, rhymes and riddles. Several authors and poets wrote for children intermittently and exclusively. Large number of magazines catering to children were published by middle of twentieth century. Later adventure novels, science fiction, young-adult fiction were also published. Ramanlal Soni and Jivram Joshi contributed for five decades creating stories, fictional characters and novels. Few children's plays were published while the biographies of historical characters appeared frequently.
Hamara Ghar is a 1950 Hindi family drama film made by 'Hindustan Chitra' and directed by Nanabhai Bhatt. Music is by Chitragupta Shrivastava. The cast was Durga Khote, Umakant Desai, Veera, Agha, Meena Kumari, Geeta Bose, David, Jankidas, Ramesh Gupta etc. Lyrics were by Anjum, Rammurthy Chaturvedi and Bharat Vyas.
"Melancholy" is an environmentally-themed song sung by 365 Nepali artists. This song was intended to promote an environmental message by breaking the Guinness World Records for "Most Vocal Solos in a Song Recording", which it successfully did. It was written, music composed and directed by environmentalist Nipesh Dhaka. The song was recorded as a single on 19 May 2016. The recording sessions were inaugurated by Prime Minister Khadga Prasad Oli at 8 am and continued until 6 pm. The song was released on 2 September 2017 by President Bidya Devi Bhandari at Army Officer's Club, Kathmandu.
