Sangeet Natak Akademi Fellowship & Awards

Sangeet Natak Akademi Fellowship and Awards are given by the Sangeet Natak Akademi, India's National Academy of Music, Dance & Drama. It is the highest national recognition given to practicing artists. This year four eminent personalities were presented the coveted Akademi Fellowship honour. Veteran Kathak dancer Sitara Devi, musician Bhupen Hazarika, stage designer Khaled Chowdhury and scholar of performing arts R.C. Mehta were among the recipients of Sangeet Natak Akademi Fellowship. Besides the fellowship, the Akademi also selected 34 practitioners of music, dance and theatre for 33 awards, including one joint award for the Akademi Puraskar for the year 2008. The names of awardees were- Ulhas Kashalkar and M.R. Gautam (Hindustani vocal music); Ramesh Mishra (Sarangi); Krishna Ram Chaudhary (Shehnai); Puranam Purushottama Sastri (Carnatic vocal); B. Sasi Kumar (Violin); Mannrgudi A. Easwaran (Mridangam); Saroja Vaidyanathan (Bharatnatyam); Shashi Shankla (Kathak); Kalamandalam Kuttan (Kathakali); Ramani Ranjan Jena (Odissi); Vasanta Lakshmi and  Narasimhachari (joint award in Kuchipudi); Kalamandalam Leelamma (Mohiniattam); Yog
Sunder Desai (creative and experimental dance); Ramhari Das (music for dance, Odissi); Markand Bhatt and Arundhati Nag (theatre acting); S. Ramanujam and Probir Guha (theatre direction); Narsingh Dev Jamwal (theatre playwriting- Dogri); Mudra Rakshasa (theatre playwriting- Hindi); Amba Sanyal (Costume Designing); Bansi Lal Khiladi (tradition of theatre- Khayal); Shakuntala Nagarkar (Lavani, Maharashtra); Birabar Sahoo (Gotipua, Orissa); Mangi Bai Arya (Mand, Rajasthan); L. Heramot Meitei Thang-Ta (Martial Arts, Manipur); Lakha Khan Mangniyar (Folk Music, Rajasthan); Hilda Mit Lepcha (Lepcha Music, Sikkim); Kartar Singh (Gurbani, Punjab); Lakshman Das (Hari Katha, Karnataka); Ningombam Ibobi Singh (Nata Sankirtana, Manipur); R. Satyanarayana (Scholarship in  performing arts).