Padmashree Award for Thilakan

Veteran Malayalam actor Thilakan has been chosen to receive the prestigious Padmashree award from the Government of India to recognize Indian citizens for their distinguished contributions in various fields: Arts, Education, Industry, Literature, Science, Sports, Social Service and public life.

Besides Thilakan, Bollywood stars Aishwarya Bachchan, Akshay Kumar, Helen, cricket captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni, off-spinner Harbhajan Singh, noted singer Hridaynath Mangeshkar, ghazal singer Penaz Masani, World billiards champion Pankaj Advani, former hockey player Balbir Singh Khullar, Keralite singer K.P. Udayabhanu and playback singer Udit Narayan are also Padmashree awardees. Shooter Abhinav Bindra, who fetched India's first individual Olympic gold medal, is awarded the Padma Bhushan.

The awardees were announced by the President on January 25, Republic Day eve. Till February 2008, 2095 people have received the award. This year, it is given to only 93 eminent personalities. Meanwhile, actor Thilakan told media persons that he had not expected such an honour, but was extremely happy to receive it.

The complete list of 2009 Padmashree Awards recipients:

1. Thilakan
2. A. Vivekh
3. Aishwarya Bachchan
4. Akshay Kumar
5. Dr. Ameena Ahmed Ahuja
6. Aruna Sairam
7. Devayani Chaymotty
8. Geeta Kapur
9. Govind Ram Nirmalkar
10. Gurumayum Gourakishor Sharma
11. Hashmat Ullah Khan
12. Helen Khan
13. Hemi Bawa
14. Pandit Hridaynath Mangeshkar
15. Iravatham Mahadevan
16. K. P Udayabhanu
17. Dr. Kanneganti Brahmanandam
18. Prof. Kiran Seth
19. Kumar Sanu Bhattacharjee
20. Prof. Dr. Leela Omchery
21. Mattannoor Sankarankutty Marar
22. Niranjan Goswami
23. Bhai Nirmal Singh Khalsa
24. Penaz Masani
25. Prakash N. Dubey
26. Dr. Pratapaditya Pal
27. Ram Kishore Chhipa
28. Saoli Mitra
29. Late Shri Skendrowell Syiemlieh
30. Dr. Subrahmanyam Krishnaswamy
31. Suresh Dutta
32. Late Shri Tafazzul Ali
33. Udit Narayan
34. Vadakka Manalath Govindan alias Kalamandalam Gopi
35. S.B. Ghosh Dastidar
36. Ameen Sayani
37. Abhay Chhajlani
38. Dr. A Sankara Reddy
39. Alok Mehta
40. Dr. Bannanje Govindacharya
41. Dr. Birendranath Datta
42. Prof. Geshe Ngawang Samten
43. Prof Jalees Ahmed Khan Tareen
44. Jayanta Mahapatra
45. Dr. John Ralston Marr
46. Lalthangfala Sailo
47. Laxman Bapu Mane
48. Dr. Mathoor Krishnamurty
49. Norden Tshering
50. Dr. Panchapakesa Jayaraman
51. Prof. Ram Shankar Tripathi
52. Prof. (Dr.) Ranbir Chander Sobti
53. Dr. Ravindra Nath Srivastava
54. Shamsur Rahman Faruqi
55. Shashi Deshpande
56. Sunny Varkey
57. Suresh Gundu Amonkar
58. Dr. Utpal K. Banerjee
59. Dr. A.K. Gupta
60. Dr. Alampur Saibaba Goud
61. Dr. Arvind Lal
62. Dr. Ashok K. Vaid
63. Dr. Ashok Kumar Grover
64. Dr. Balswarup Choubey
65. Dr. D.S. Rana
66. Dr. Govindan Vijayaraghavan
67. Dr. Kalyan Banerjee
68. P.R. Krishna Kumar
69. Dr. R. Sivaraaman
70. Dr. Shaik Khader Noordeen
71. Prof. (Dr.) Thanikachalam Sadagopan
72. Dr. Yash Gulati
73. K. Asungba Sangtam
74. Dr. Shyamlha Pappu
75. Prof. Syed Iqbal Hasnain
76. Goriparthi Narasimha Raju Yadav
77. Prof. Pramod Tandon
78. Bansilal Rathi
79. Begum Bilkees I. Latif
80. Cheril Krishna Menon
81. Rev. Fr. Joseph H. Pereira
82. K. Viswanathan
83. Keepu Tshering Lepcha
84. Prof. Shyam Sunder Maheshwari
85. Sunil Kanti Roy
86. Balbir Singh Khullar
87. Harbhajan Singh
88. Mahendra Singh Dhoni
89. Pankaj Advani
90. Surinder Mehta
91. Arunmugam Sakthivel
92. Dr. Bavaguthu Raghuram Shetty
93. R.K. Krishna Kumar