Padma Awards: Amitabh Bacchan, 49 others honoured

Actor Amitabh Bachchan receives the Padma Vibhushan from President Pranab Mukherjee at Rashtrapati Bhawan on Wednesday. (Source: Express Photo by Renuka Puri)

Actor Amitabh Bachchan and Shia leader Prince Karim Aga Khan were among the 50 people conferred awards at a civil investiture ceremony held at Rashtrapati Bhawan on Wednesday.

Vice-President Hamid Ansari, Prime Minister Narendra Modi, senior ministers, BJP patriarch L K Advani and Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal were among those present at the function. While Bachchan, Khan and nuclear scientist Ramaswamy Srinivasan were given Padma Vibhushan, another awardee, veteran actor Dilip Kumar could not attend the function because of his poor health. Cheered by actor son Abhishek, daughter-in-law Aishwarya, wife Jaya and daughter Shweta Nanda, her son Agastye and daughter Navya Naveli, 72-year-old Amitabh, dressed in a black bandhgala suit, received the award from the President to thunderous applause.

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Among others who received the Padma awards were senior lawyer K K Venugopal, Dharmadhikari of Karnataka’s Shri Manjunatha Swamy temple Dharmasthala Veerendra Heggade, 12-time national award winning filmmaker Jahnu Barua, Canada-born mathematician Manjul Bhargava, internationally acclaimed computer scientist Vijay Bhatkar, spiritual guru Swami Satyamitranand Giri, constitutional expert Subhash C Kashyap, Niti Ayog member Vivek Debroy and eminent endocrinologist Ambrish Mithal. Two awardees were not present at the ceremony.