BHUBANESWAR: Four eminent personalities from the fields of dance, music, theatre and cinema were presented the prestigious Guru Kelucharan Mohapatra Award 2026 on the concluding day of the 32nd Guru Kelucharan Mohapatra Award Festival here on Thursday.
Organised by Srjan, the five-day festival this year commemorated the birth centenary of legendary Odissi Guru Kelucharan Mohapatra. The award, carrying a cash prize of Rs 1 lakh and a citation, was presented to Guru Sharon Lowen for dance, Guru Keshab Chandra Rout for music, Dhirendranath Mallick for theatre and veteran actor Mahasweta Ray for cinema, for their lifetime contribution to the respective fields.
The Guru Kelucharan Mohapatra Kala Samman 2026, instituted last year by Odissi Guru and Srjan director Ratikant Mohapatra for established artistes aged between 40-55 years, was conferred on Agnimitra Behera for violin and Nazia Alam for vocal music. It carried a cash prize of Rs 50,000.
Besides, the Yuva Pratibha Samman 2026 for artistes under 40 years, carrying a cash prize of Rs 25,000, was awarded to Sushree Vrinda Chadha and Sushree Aishwariya Singhdev for Odissi dance, Nikita Banawalikar for Kathak and Soumya Ranjan Nayak for Mardala.
The awards were presented by deputy CM KV Singh Deo and Ekamra MLA Babu Singh. The award ceremony was followed by the grand finale, which showcased Srjan Ensemble’s new production ‘Maati’, celebrating the resilience of Mother Earth against the cosmic clamour of sky, sun, moon and wind.