Musicians and singers were given preference this year with Grammy-winning musician Vishwa Mohan Bhatt being named for Padma Bhushan while singer Kailash Kher and Anuradha Paudwal were named for Padma Shri. Yesudas, who has a record contribution of more than 50,000 film songs in various languages, including his mother tongue Malayalam, Tamil, Bengali and Hindi, has already been a recipient of the Padma Shri (1975) and the Padma Bhushan (2002). Bhatt, who is credited with the creation of the 'Mohan Veena', is a former disciple of Pt Ravi Shankar. Celebrity chef Sanjeev Kapoor, who has been named for Padma Shri, said it is great to be acknowledged for an "unconventional" field. Sadhu Meher, an actor, director, and producer, known for his performances in films like "Bhuvan Shome", "Ankur" and "Mrigaya" is also a Padma Shri winner.

Source: dna January 25, 2017 15:31 UTC