Three-time National Award winning actor Victor Banerjee was among 17 people who received Padma Bhushans from President Ram Nath Kovind on Monday. The President also presented four Padma Vibhushans and 107 Padma Shris on the occasion at Rashtrapati Bhavan.
On March 21, Banerjee was honoured with the Satyajit Ray Lifetime Achievement Award at a private ceremony organised by the West Bengal Film Journalists’ Association (WBFJA) at Satyajit Ray’s south Kolkata residence on Bishop Lefroy Road in Bhowanipore. Handing over the award to Banerjee was Sandip Ray, who called Banerjee “one of the very best, someone who always takes his craft extremely seriously”.
Actor Victor Banerjee with the award in front of Rashtrapati Bhavan. He is accompanied by wife Maya and younger daughter Keya
Olympic gold medallist Neeraj Chopra and late Uttar Pradesh chief minister Kalyan Singh (posthumously) were among the 65 personalities who were conferred the Padma awards on Monday.
The Padma Bhushan recipients other than Banerjee included Krishna Murthy Ella and Suchitra Krishna Ella of Bharat Biotech, the maker of coronavirus vaccine Covaxin.
Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella and Google CEO Sundar Pichai were among those who were named for the Padma Bhushan. However, they were absent at Monday’s event.
This year, no names were announced for the Bharat Ratna, India’s highest civilian award, which was last awarded in 2019 to late President Pranab Mukherjee, late social reformer Nanaji Deshmukh and late singer Bhupen Hazarika.
The awards are conferred in three categories — Padma Vibhushan, the country’s second-highest civilian award, Padma Bhushan, the third-highest civilian award and Padma Shri, the fourth highest civilian award. Padma Vibhushan is awarded for exceptional and distinguished service, Padma Bhushan for distinguished service of high order and Padma Shri for distinguished service in any field.