Kalakar Awards or Kalakar Puraskar ceremony is one of the most prominent film events given for Bengali Cinema

Bengali cinema

Bengali cinema refers to the Bengali language filmmaking industries in the Bengal region of South Asia. There are two major film-making hubs in the region: one in Kolkata, West Bengal, India and the other in Dhaka, Bangladesh .The history of cinema in Bengal dates back to the 1890s, when the first...

s in India

India

India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...

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History & Background

Kalakar Awards is recognized as one of the leading awards ceremonies of Eastern India. The brand Kalakar is all about a vision and the relentless pursuit towards its success. It all started off 23 years ago when Shri Ashok Kalanauria came up with a stirring vision.

Kolkata

Kolkata

Kolkata , formerly known as Calcutta, is the capital of the Indian state of West Bengal. Located on the east bank of the Hooghly River, it was the commercial capital of East India...

, the home to the finest in cinema, television, stage and music with its very own Tollywood, lacked the institution of annual awards for the most talented and outstanding. Finally this dream turned into reality on 1 January 1993 when the very first Kalakar Awards were hosted at G. D. Birla Sabhaghar.

It was a night to remember, with the honoring and felicitating of several artistes for excellence in their work, it wrote a new chapter in the history of Award Ceremonies. This was a stepping stone and a beginning of this exciting journey which gave us a chance to show, the people who entertain us, how much we care for them. Year after year, we have been taking this opportunity to give accolades to not only Tollywood Stars but also Stars from Bollywood

Bollywood

Bollywood is the informal term popularly used for the Hindi-language film industry based in Mumbai , Maharashtra, India. The term is often incorrectly used to refer to the whole of Indian cinema; it is only a part of the total Indian film industry, which includes other production centers producing...

, by awarding them the lady statuette. The first step which was taken by Mr. Kalanauria, seventeen years ago, has resulted in this grand spectacle that is now held at the Science City Auditorium, Kolkata

Kolkata

Kolkata , formerly known as Calcutta, is the capital of the Indian state of West Bengal. Located on the east bank of the Hooghly River, it was the commercial capital of East India...

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The list of Kalakar awardees runs into hundreds, some of the prominent stars include:

From Bollywood

Bollywood

Bollywood is the informal term popularly used for the Hindi-language film industry based in Mumbai , Maharashtra, India. The term is often incorrectly used to refer to the whole of Indian cinema; it is only a part of the total Indian film industry, which includes other production centers producing...

: Sadhana Sargam, Dharmendra

Dharmendra

Dharmendra Singh Deol |Punjab]]), better known as Dharmendra, is an award-winning Hindi film actor who has appeared in more than 247 Hindi-language films as of 2011. In 1997, he received the Filmfare Lifetime Achievement Award for his contribution to Hindi cinema and also another Lifetime...

, Shammi Kapoor

Shammi Kapoor

Shammi Kapoor was an Indian film actor and director. He was a prominent lead actor in Hindi cinema from the late 1950s until the early 1970s....

, Biswajit, Rishi Kapoor

Rishi Kapoor

Rishi Kapoor is an Indian Bollywood actor, film producer and director.-Early life:Born in Chembur Mumbai, Kapoor is the second son of film director and star Raj Kapoor. He did his schooling with his brothers at Campion School,Mumbai. His brothers are well-known actors: Randhir Kapoor and Rajiv...

, Shatrughan Sinha

Shatrughan Sinha

Shatrughan Sinha is an Indian film actor and politician. Apart from being member of Rajya Sabha twice he was also Union Cabinet Minister of Health and Family Welfare and Shipping...

, Manoj Bajpai

Manoj Bajpai

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, Farooque Shaikh, Pradeep Kumar

Pradeep Kumar

Pradeep Kumar was an Indian actor in Bengali and Hindi films.-Career:When Kumar was 17 years old, he decided to take up acting. His started his film career in Bengali films...

, Asrani

Asrani

Govardhan Asrani , popularly known simply as Asrani, is an actor in Indian films whose Bollywood career has spanned over 35 years. His wife Manju Bansal is an actress.-Early life:...

, A. K. Hangal

A. K. Hangal

Avtar Kishan Hangal , popularly known as A. K. Hangal, is a well known Indian character actor in Hindi language films. His most notable roles are as the Inder Sen in Shaukeen, as Rahim Chacha in Sholay and as Ram Shastri in Aaina...

, Amrish Puri

Amrish Puri

Amrish Singh Puri , ; 22 June 1932 – 12 January 2005 was an iconic theater and film actor from India, who was a key player in the Indian theater movement that picked up steam in the 1960s. He worked with notable playwrights of the time, such as Satyadev Dubey and Girish Karnad...

 , Raj Babbar

Raj Babbar

Raj Babbar is a Hindi & Punjabi film actor since 1977 and the current Member of Parliament from Firozabad which he won by defeating Dimple Yadav, wife of Akhilesh Yadav & daughter-in-law of Mulayam Singh Yadav. This is his fourth term as MP, in previous terms he was the part of Samajwadi...

, Prakash Mehra

Prakash Mehra

-Career:Born on 13 July 1939 at Bijnor, Uttar Pradesh, India, Mehra started in the late 1950s as a production controller. In 1968, he directed Shashi Kapoor who played a double role in Haseena Maan Jayegi. This was followed by the 1971 hit Mela starring the Khan brothers together. In 1973, he...

, B. R. Chopra, Ravi Chopra

Ravi Chopra

Ravi Chopra is an Indian movie producer and director.Ravi has directed thus far the movies, Zameer , The Burning Train , Mazdoor , Dehleez , Baghban , and Baabul...

, Jaspal Bhatti

Jaspal Bhatti

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, Vyjayantimala, Asha Parekh

Asha Parekh

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, Rani Mukherjee, Shabana Azmi

Shabana Azmi

Shabana Azmi is an Indian actress of film, television and theatre. An alumna of the Film and Television Institute of India of Pune, she made her film debut in 1974 and soon became one of the leading actresses of parallel cinema, an Indian New Wave movement known for its serious content and...

, Neena Gupta

Neena Gupta

Neena Gupta is an Indian film and television actress and director-producer. She won the 1994 National Film Award for Best Supporting Actress for Woh Chokri. She is a popular actress in Indian commercial cinema, but it is her work with art filmmakers of India, like Shyam Benegal that got her...

, Ila Arun

Ila Arun

Ila Arun is a popular Indian actress, TV personality and a Rajasthani folk/folk-pop singer with a unique, husky voice and a penchant for folk-pop fusion. Her daughter is Ishita Arun.-Early life:She was born and brought up in the state capital of Jaipur...

, Nandita Das

Nandita Das

Nandita Das is an award-winning Indian film actress and director. As an actress, she is known for her performances in Fire , Earth , Bawandar , Kannathil Muthamittal and Aamaar Bhuvan . As a director, she is known for her directorial debut Firaaq , which has won a number of national and...

, Naushad

Naushad

Naushad Ali was an Indian musician. He was one of the foremost music directors for Bollywood films, and is particularly known for popularizing the use of classical music in films.His first film as an independent music director was Prem Nagar in 1940...

, Bappi Lahiri

Bappi Lahiri

Bappi Lahiri or Alokesh Lahiri , born 27 November 1952, is a music director in the Hindi film industry. He pioneered the use of disco music in Indian cinema and sang some of his own compositions. He was popular in the 1980s with films like Disco Dancer, Namak Halaal and Sharaabi among others.-Early...

, Udit Narayan

Udit Narayan

-Career:King of melody, Udit Narayan Jha was born on 1 December, 1955 in a village called Bhardaha in the Saptari district , Nepal. His father was Hare Krishna Jha and his mother was Bhuwaneshwari Devi.Narayan studied at P.B...

, Kumar Sanu

Kumar Sanu

Kumar Sanu Kumar Sanu Kumar Sanu (alias Kedarnath Bhattacharya , born in Kolkata, is a leading Indian Bollywood playback singer. He was awarded the Filmfare Best Male Playback Award over five consecutive years. The Government of India honoured him with the Padma Shri in 2009....

, Sonu Nigam

Sonu Nigam

Sonu Nigam is an Indian playback singer whose songs have been featured in numerous Hindi movies, as well as films in Assamese, Punjabi, Bengali, Marathi and Kannada language. He has also released numerous Indi-pop albums and acted in a few Hindi feature films...

, Hariharan

Hariharan (singer)

Hariharan , born 3 April 1955) is an Indian playback singer in Hindi, Tamil, Malayalam, Kannada, Marathi, Bhojpuri and Telugu movies, an established ghazal singer, and one of the pioneers of Indian fusion music. His melody is strongly appreciated by the film fraternity...

, Jagjit Singh and Remo Fernandes

Remo Fernandes

Luís Remo de Maria Bernardo Fernandes, more popularly known as Remo Fernandes is a pop/rock/Indian fusion artist and playback singer from the state of Goa, India. His musical work is a fusion of many different cultures and styles he's been exposed to as a child in Goa and in his later travels...

. Padmini Kolhapure

Padmini Kolhapure

Padmini Kolhapure is an Indian actress who appeared in Bollywood films during the 1970s and 1980s.-Early life:Padmini Kolhapure is from a Maharashtrian family. Her father, Pandharinath Kolhapure is a classical singer whose family was from Kolhapur and Goa. Her mother, whose family hailed from...

, Jaya Prada

Jaya Prada

Jaya Prada is an Indian film actress and politician. She has starred in hundreds of Telugu, Hindi, Tamil, Kannada, Malayalam, Bengali and Marathi films.-Early life:...

, Celina Jaitley

Celina Jaitley

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, Koena Mitra

Koena Mitra

Koena Mitra is an Indian actress and model who appears in Bollywood films.-Early life:Mitra was born in Kolkata, West Bengal to a Bengali Hindu family. She attended South Point High School and Lady Brabourne College of the University of Calcutta. She has a major in psychology. Mitra was trained...

, Madhur Bhandarkar

Madhur Bhandarkar

Madhur Bhandarkar is a National Award-winning Indian film director, script writer, and producer. He is best known for his films such as Chandni Bar , Page 3 , Traffic Signal , and Fashion...

, Konkona Sen, Deepti Naval

Deepti Naval

Deepti Naval is an acclaimed Indian actress. She has acted in over 75 Hindi films, and most often worked in arthouse and independent films, known as parallel cinema in India.-Early life:Born in Amritsar, Punjab, India...

, Farida Jalal

Farida Jalal

- Career :Farida Jalal, a native of New Delhi, started her career in the 1960s, when she won the United Film Producers Talent Hunt sponsored by Filmfare. She usually played the sister or rejected fiancée of the male lead, but almost never the female lead...

, Daler Mehndi

Daler Mehndi

Daler Mehndi , born August 18, 1967, is an Indian Bhangra pop singer.Mehndi was a student of traditional Punjabi music and his first album broke sales records in India. Since 1995 he has recorded several highly successful albums in India, and also sung as a playback singer for several Hindi movies...

, Pankaj Udhas

Pankaj Udhas

Pankaj Udhas is an Indian singer, credited in the Indian music industry, along with other musicians like Jagjit Singh and Talat Aziz, with bringing the style to the realm of popular music. Udhas rose to fame for singing in the film Naam , in which his song Chitthi Aayee Hai became an instant hit....

, Aadesh Srivastav, Randhir Kapoor

Randhir Kapoor

Randhir Kapoor is a Bollywood actor, producer and director. His nickname is Daboo.-Early life:Randhir Kapoor hails from the legendary Kapoor family. He is the eldest son of Raj Kapoor. He is a fourth generation Kapoor and comes from a distinguished Punjabi Hindu family who have been part of the...

, Shiney Ahuja

Shiney Ahuja

Shiney Ahuja is an Indian actor who won the Filmfare Best Debut Award for Hazaaron Khwaishein Aisi in 2006.- Early life :...

, Mahesh Bhatt

Mahesh Bhatt

Mahesh Bhatt , is a prominent Indian film director, producer and screenwriter.Bhatt's early directional career consisted of acclaimed films, such as Arth, Saaransh, Janam, Naam and Zakhm....

, Mukesh Bhatt

Mukesh Bhatt

Mukesh Bhatt , is an Indian film producer, who has produced several Bollywood films. He is the younger brother of director, Mahesh Bhatt and also the co-owner of the production company, Vishesh Films, set up in 1986...

, Emraan Hashmi

Emraan Hashmi

Emraan Anwar Hashmi is a Filmfare Award-nominated Indian actor who appears in Bollywood films.- Early life :Hashmi was born to Anwar Hashmi and Maherahh Hashmi. His father is a Muslim while his mother a Roman Catholic. After briefly changing his first name to Farhan, he decided to keep his...

, Farhan Akhtar

Farhan Akhtar

Farhan Akhtar is an Indian filmmaker, script writer, actor, playback singer, lyricist, film producer in Hindi cinema and a television host.His directorial debut Dil Chahta Hai won a National Film Award for Best Feature Film in Hindi...

, Prachi Desai

Prachi Desai

Prachi Desai is an Indian film and television actress. She is best known for her role as Bani Walia in the Hindi television drama Kasamh Se which aired on Zee TV. Prachi is the endorser, spokesperson, brand ambassador and the face of Neutrogena products in India...

, Sonal Chauhan

Sonal Chauhan

Sonal Chauhan is an Indian fashion model and actress. She has won several beauty contests and made her acting debut in the movie Jannat directed by Kunal Deshmukh .-Early life:...

, Kailash Kher. Sudesh Bhonsle

From Tollywood : Tarun Majumdar

Tarun Majumdar

Tarun Majumdar is a renowned Bengali Indian film director who makes films in Bengali and is notable for his depiction of Bengali culture and society. Many of his films are literature-based...

, Mrinal Sen

Mrinal Sen

Mrinal Sen is a Bengali Indian filmmaker. He was born on 14 May 1923, in the town of Faridpur, now in Bangladesh in a Hindu family. After finishing his high school there, he left home to come to Calcutta as a student and studied physics at the well-known Scottish Church College and at the...

, Gautam Ghosh, Aparna Sen

Aparna Sen

Aparna Sen is a critically acclaimed Bengali Indian filmmaker, script writer, and actress. She is the winner of three National Film Awards and eight international film festival awards.-Biography:...

, Ranjit Mullick

Ranjit Mullick

Ranjit Mullick is a prominent Bengali film actor. He studied at the Asutosh College and later at the Shyamaprasad College of the University of Calcutta.He started his career with acclaimed Bengali director Mrinal Sen's film Interview...

, Soumitra Chatterjee

Soumitra Chatterjee

Soumitra Chatterjee or Soumitra Chattopadhyay is an iconic Bengali actor from India, known among other things for his frequent collaborations with the great Bengali film director Satyajit Ray and his constant comparison with the Bengali screen idol Uttam Kumar.-Background:Soumitra graduated from...

, Victor Banerjee

Victor Banerjee

Victor Banerjee is an Indian actor who appears in Hindi, Bengali and English language films. He has also appeared on a number of TV series on Indian television...

, Mamata Shankar

Mamata Shankar

Mamata Shankar is an actress in the Bengali language film industry of India. She has acted in films by renowned film directors including, Satyajit Ray, Mrinal Sen, Rituparno Ghosh, Buddhadev Dasgupta and Gautam Ghosh...

, Rupa Ganguly

Rupa Ganguly

Rupa Ganguly or Roopa Ganguly is an Indian actress in the Hindi and Bengali language film industry, as well as television She became popular after playing Draupadi in the hit Television series Mahabharat , and in film is most known for her roles in films like Padma Nadir Majhi by Gautam Ghose,...

, Rituparna Sengupta

Rituparna Sengupta

Rituparna Sengupta is an Indian actress. She is the leading actress in Bengali Cinema for the last decade in India, and is also currently performing in critically acclaimed Hindi Cinema.- Early life and education :...

, Prosenjit, Chiranjeet

Chiranjeet

Chiranjeet , born 2 November 1960) is a Bengali Indian male actor and director in the Bengali film industry located in Kolkata, West Bengal. He is also a politician, and a Member of the Legislative Assembly of Government of West Bengal....

, Debashree Roy

Debashree Roy

Debashree Roy is a Bengali cinema actress. She acted in more than 100 films and has 40 awards, including a National Film Award for Best Actress for the film Unishe April in 1995. She was also known by the name 'Chintamani' in Tamil Nadu, when she acted in a few Tamil movies.- Early life :She was...

, Anjan Dutta

Anjan Dutta

Anjan Dutta is a popular artist of the 1990s Bengali music scene defined by anyodharar gaan . Anjan Dutta's style of music is different from the others in the sense that it has simple tunes, one that is reminiscent of western folk music. His lyrics are simple and more natural...

, Tapas Paul, Usha Uthup

Usha Uthup

Usha Uthup is a popular Indian pop, jazz and playback singer. She is well known for popular hits in the late 1960s, 1970s and 1980s.She started her Bollywood playback career, when she sang an English verse in hit song, "Dum maro dum"" in Hare Rama Hare Krishna, and went on work with music...

, Indrani Haldar

Indrani Haldar

Indrani Haldar is a Bengali actress. Indrani, also known as Mamoni, was born in Kolkata on January 6, 1971. Her father is Sanjoy Haldar. She finished her schooling from the Multipurpose Girl’s School and graduated from Jogamaya Devi College, an affiliated women's college of the prestigious...

, Ananda Shankar

Ananda Shankar

Ananda Shankar was a Bengali musician best known for fusing Western and Eastern musical styles. He was married to Tanusree Shankar.-Early life:...

 & Tanushree Shankar, Koel Mullick and Jeet

Jeet

Jeet is a Hindi term meaning "victory" or "win". It may refer to:* Jeet , Indian* Jeet , Bengali actor* Jeet , a Hindi film by Raj Kanwar...

. Indrani Dutta

Indrani Dutta

Indrani Dutta is a Bengali actress.Born in Kolkata Indrani is the youngest child of Dr. Himangshu Jyoti Dutta and Manjushree Dutta. Even as a child while studying in Kamala Girls' High School Indrani nurtured an ambition to become an actress. Her versatility was reflected in dance and sports. She...

, Arjun Chakraborty

Arjun Chakraborty

Arjun Chakraborty is an Indian actor and director presently based at Kolkata.He made is debut as an actor in the 1983 Hindi film Zara Si Zindagi, and his first major role was in the 1986 film Ankush starring Nana Patekar. Later he shifted mainly to the Bengali film industry starting with the 1989...

, Bikram Ghosh, Shatabdi Roy

Shatabdi Roy

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, Churni Ganguly, Moon Moon Sen, Koneenika Bandyopadhyay

Koneenika Bandyopadhyay

Koneenica Banerjee is a leading Bengali actress at Tollywood.-Early life:Koneenika is a commerce graduate from the Sivanath Sastri College, an affiliated college of the University of Calcutta. She started her acting career in a television. Her debut appearance was in a soap named Swapnanil...

, Haimanti Shukla.

From the Sub Continent : Runa Laila from Bangladesh, Ghulam Ali from Pakistan and Sushil Chetri & Malini Manandhar from Nepal. Eva Rahman, Geetali Hassan, Arifa Praveen Zamil Mousumi from Bangladesh.

From the Television : Neena Gupta

Neena Gupta

Neena Gupta is an Indian film and television actress and director-producer. She won the 1994 National Film Award for Best Supporting Actress for Woh Chokri. She is a popular actress in Indian commercial cinema, but it is her work with art filmmakers of India, like Shyam Benegal that got her...

, Kanwaljeet, Dara Singh

Dara Singh

Dara Singh Randhawa is a wrestler and Indian film actor. He was born in a Jat Sikh family of Punjabi background.He was a wrestler before he started acting in Hindi films in 1962....

, Jaspal Bhatti

Jaspal Bhatti

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, Reena Wadhwa, Ali Azgar, Urvashi Dholakia

Urvashi Dholakia

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, Ruby Bhatia

Ruby Bhatia

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, Ronit Roy

Ronit Roy

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, Kiran Karmakar, Saksh Tanwar, Jaya Bhattacharyya, Jaya Sil, Sharad Kelkar

Sharad Kelkar

Sharad Kelkar is an Indian television actor who shot to fame mainly with his role as Nahar Pratap Singh in Saat Phere - Saloni ka Safar. He also played the role of Rudra Raizada in Sindoor Tere Naam Ka on Zee TV at the same time....

, Prachi Desai

Prachi Desai

Prachi Desai is an Indian film and television actress. She is best known for her role as Bani Walia in the Hindi television drama Kasamh Se which aired on Zee TV. Prachi is the endorser, spokesperson, brand ambassador and the face of Neutrogena products in India...

, Ekbal Khan, Reena Kapoor, Priya Bhattacharyya, Ekta Kapoor

Ekta Kapoor

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, Rajeev Khandelwal

Rajeev Khandelwal

Rajeev Khandelwal is a popular Indian film actor notable for his versatility and choice of scripts. He has played the harrowed Dr. Aamir Ali in his critically acclaimed 2008 debut film Aamir and powerfully depicted the torn ACP Arvind Mathur who battles his inner demons in Shaitan...

, Aamna Shariff, Mir

Mir

Mir was a space station operated in low Earth orbit from 1986 to 2001, at first by the Soviet Union and then by Russia. Assembled in orbit from 1986 to 1996, Mir was the first modular space station and had a greater mass than that of any previous spacecraft, holding the record for the...

, Debojeet, Divyanka Tripathy, Sharad Malhotra

Sharad Malhotra

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, Aditya Narayan

Aditya Narayan

Aditya Narayan Jha , born 6 August 1987, in Mumbai, India, commonly known as Aditya Narayan, is an actor, television host and music composer. He is the only child of Indian playback singer Udit Narayan and Deepa Narayan.-Early life:...

, Karan Grover

Karan Grover

Karan V Grover is an Indian actor, who is best known for his portrayal of Arjun Goenka in Saarrthi that aired on STAR Plus.-Career:...

.

The team behind the Kalakar Awards comprises professionals from different walks of life, like the public services, police services, banking sector, business and corporate houses and also from NGO's and cultural organizations. This like minded group of people comes together each year to organize this grand celebration. Each one brings his or her own expertise and together unfolds the annual Kalakar Awards, which is now in its 18th year. The quest is common, to continue honoring the exceptional talents of Bollywood and Tollywood. And to keep the Kalakar Awards flag fluttering high in the winds of Cinema, Television, & Entertainment .

Cinema

• Best Indian Films
• Best Director
• Best Actor
• Best Actress
• Best Supporting Actor
• Best Supporting Actress
• Best Screenplay
• Best Cinematographer
• Best Art Director
• Best Editor
• Best Music Director
• Best Lyricist
• Best Male Playback
• Best Female Playback
• Best Make Up Man
• Most Promising Director
• Most Promising Actor
• Most Promising Actress

External links

• www.kalakarawards.com