BHUBANESWAR: Theatre actor-director Anant Mahapatra and Odissi exponent Kumkum Mohanty will be awarded the prestigious Kabi Samrat Upendra Bhanja Samman for the years 2019 and 2020 for their lifetime contribution to the art forms.
The Culture department informed this on Friday while announcing the Odisha Sangeet Natak Akademi awards for both the years. The awards will be given away on August 30.
Mohanty, who is widely recognised for her flawless 'abhinaya', is already a recipient of Central Sangeet Natak Akademi award, State Sangeet Natak Akademi award and the prestigious civilian award Padma Shri.
Similarly, Mohapatra has written, directed and acted in over 100 plays. He is credited to have written the screenplay and directed 'Mamu', the first feature length film on Doordarshan in India, in both Hindi and Odia languages.
He also set up the Utkal Rangamanch Trust to give a fillip to theatre in the State after a majority of theatre companies closed down in the 70s. Apart from the Upendra Bhanja Samman, the Sangeet Natak Akademi awards in 16 categories each including acting, playright, theatre art, direction were announced for both 2019 and 2020.
While Nabakihsore Acharya and Mamata Mohanty will receive the award for acting for 2019, Sushila Nayar and Bijay Kumar Pattnaik would get it for the year 2020. For direction, Harihar Mishra and Subodh Patnaik will receive the Akademi awards for 2019 and 2020 respectively.