Sahydri Navratna Awards 2002

To judge a person's success , dont just look at where they are now. But how they got there. How many obstacles they had to surmount, how many sacrifices they had to make. How many upheavels they had to overcome.It is the journey that tests the mettle of the traveller. For people like these the journey never ends.

These people strive on with their task, too immersed in their work to bother about applause and accolades. That was the reason I wanted to tell these people through Sahyadri, we want to recognise your work, we want to acknowledge your contribution. With no Strings attached, its our way of humbly saying "Thank you" .

Selected by an independent jury, these awards were conceptulised in the year 2002. Since then they have become a synonym to Excellence in Maharashtra.

The first ever Sahyadri Navratna Puruskar were given on 27th April 2002 at Juhu Centaur , Mumbai

The Jury

An esteemed jury panel of industry professionals and experts helped in short listing the nominations for the various categories.

The jury included -

Former India cricket captain Ajit WadekarMaharashtra government cultural secretary Govind SwarupTheatre personality Kamlakar SontakkeSabe TV vice chairman Markand AdhikariIMPPA president & Mukti Foundation president Smita ThackerayFilm & TV personality Sachin PilgaonkarMaharashtra Times editor Bharatkumar Raut

It is this jury that has, after hours of deliberation, finalised the nine personalities who will be awarded this year's honours.

The Sahyadri Navratna Awards 2002 were conceived as as a way of honouring Maharashtrians from diverse fields, on one platform.

The awards are the first ever honour to recognise nine outstanding Marathi achievers from different walks of life such as film, music, theatre, television, sports, social work, business and media.

An eminent jury panel of industry professionals and experts was constituted to independently shortlist the nominations for the various categories. The idea was to seek gems of excellence from the sea of talent that is Maharashtra. Our partners in the venture, DD Sahyadri, the regional terrestrial channel of pubcaster Doordarshan will telecast the function on 1 May, Mahashtra Divas, at 3 pm.

The awards -

Swar Ratna -- For excellence in music
Chitra Ratna -- For excellence in cinema
Ratna Vahini - To recognize outstanding Marathi Television Channel
Natya Ratna -- For excellence in theatre
Ratna Saurabh -- For excellence in sports
Seva Ratna -- To recognize work rendered to the cause of people
Ratna Darpan - For outstanding achievement in Media.
Ratna Sharda - To recognize achievements by a woman in any field.
Vaibhav Ratna - For outstanding achievement in Industry/Business.

The Statuette -
The principles behind the Sahyadri Navratna awards 2002 have been kept in mind while designing the statuette. After extended deliberations, it was decided that the statuette would resemble a female form, dressed in typical Maharashtrian nau vari saree, holding the pallu aloft in a celebration of life.

The statuette is a symbol of all the Maharashtrian holds sacrosanct. The outstretched arms signify his costant search for excellence and a yearning for goals yet unachieved. The figure is however, firmly bound to its roots, unwavering in its dedication and commitment to values and a culture lovingly cherished. The graceful figure is also a reminder of the letter S, for Sahyadri, the range that defines Maharashtrian nature and the TV channel that holds their interest.

The Godrej No 1 Sahyadri Navratna Awards 2002 are to be held on Saturday, 27 April, 2002 in Mumbai at the Juhu Centaur.

The venue : The Poolside.
The time : 7 pm.

The awards ceremony will be a place where the creme de la creme of Marathi culture will converge, to be entertained and to honour nine esteemed personalities who have done Maharashtra proud.Sahyadri Navratna Puraskar 2002 Awardees:

Swar Ratna - Shri Sudhir Phadke, the doyen of Marathi light music, is one of the most popular music directors and singers of our time. Born on 25 July, 1919, Shri Phadke had his initial training in vocal classical music from the late Shri Vamanrao Padhye in Kolhapur. Starting his career in 1941 with His Master's Voice, Phadke moved on to the Prabhat Film Company as music director in 1946. He has about 110 films to his credit as music director, 20 of which are Hindi films. He has received several awards for his music direction as well as singing during his illustrious career. His home production, Ha Maaza Marga Ekala has won the Rashtrapati award in 1963. A record creating achievement of his career is the music composition of the Geet Ramayana, rendered in lyrical form by the poet GD Madgulkar. 

Chitra Ratna - Smt Sulochana is a face well known to Maharashtrians the world over. Starting her career with Bhalji Pendharkar's Maharathi Karna in 1943, Sulochana has acted in over 150 Marathi films and over 250 Hindi films till date. So far, she has been honoured with the V Shantaram Puraskar of the Maharashtra government, and several awards from various organisations. Among the films she has starred in are Mith Bhakar, Chimni Pakhare, Jaya Bhavani, Jivacha Sakha and Bala jo jo re. 

Ratna Darpan - Shri DB Karnik is a name familiar to all Maharashtrians. He is credited with starting four publications in Maharashtra. The first of these was Dainik Sangram. He was instrumental, as founder editor, of turning the Maharashtra Times into a dynamic, people oriented newspaper. A disciple of the revolutionary MN Roy, he was jailed in Dhulia jail for participating in the Indian freedom struggle. 

Ratna Sharada - Smt Prema Purao is a name that spells succour for scores of destitute women in the state of Maharashtra. The founder of the Annapurna Mahila Mandal, she helped tap their talents and skills in which they excelled. Closely involved in the Goa freedom struggle and the Samyukta Maharastra Andolan, she was imprisoned while working as an active trade unionist for nine months in the 1960s. She started the Annapurna Mahila Mandal in 1973 with a group of 14 women with the help of loans from nationalised banks for generating self employment for women in the state. The Mandal's membership has today grown to over 200,000. She has been honoured with the Padmashree, the Baya Karve Award and Com Datta Deshmukh award, among others.

Natya Ratna - Shri Vijay Tendulkar ranks among the best playwrights this country has seen. Well known for plays like, Sakharam Binder, Kamala and Khamosh, Adalat Jari Hai, 1972 was a landmark year for Tendulkar as well as for Indian vernacular theatre - his Marathi play Ghashiram Kotwal made waves by its brilliant use of traditional folk forms in modern contemporary theatre. Born in 1928, Tendulkar started his literary life as a writer of short stories before moving on to write plays and film scripts. Tendulkar, who has written screen-plays for films like Manthan; Nishant, Ardh Satya and Aakrosh, was awarded the Pabmabhushan in 1984.

Seva Ratna - Shri Baba Amte and the cause of the downtrodden are almost synonymous in India today. Baba is a living legend of our time and a shining example of the Gandhian spirit and approach to current and compelling social problems of the country. By crusading for human dignity and sustainable development he has sought to arouse the inner vitality of our society and invest it with sanity, peace and compassion. Anandwan, which he set up for leprosy patients, provides, through a creative combination of medical intervention, rehabilitation and economic regeneration, self-esteem and self-reliance to leprosy affected people thus translating the ideal of Mahatma Gandhi to make the victims of leprosy "as much a part of society as the tallest among us". Starting with leprosy-affected people, Amte's work covered education in health and hygiene, village sanitation, village industries, communal unity and removal of untouchability and work among tribals and the youth of the country. He has introduced at Anandwan and other tribal areas rain-harvesting experiments for augmenting agricultural production. How he organized the youth of India in the "Knit India Movement" across the East and the West, the North and the South of the country, is a saga of our times. He has been awarded the Gandhi Peace Prize, 1999, among several other awards.

Vaibhav Ratna - Shri Rahul Bajaj, apart from heading the Bajaj group of companies, has several accomplishments to his credit. A Harvard graduate, he has been the CEO of Bajaj Auto since 1968. Today, the company is India's premier two and three wheeler manufacturer. Bajaj Auto received Dalal Street Journal'sCorporate Excellence Award for 1990 & 1995 (Rank I). In recognition of his contribution to the automotive industry, the Government of India appointed Bajaj as the Chairman of the Development Council for Automobiles and Allied Industries, 1975-77. Bajaj was Chairman of Indian Airlines between 1986-89. Bajaj was appointed by the Government of India as the Chairman of Technology Development Advisory Group on Technology Trends in Automobiles - August 1991. Bajaj was Chairman of the World Business Council of the World Economic Forum and continues to be its Member. Bajaj is a Member of the New York Stock Exchange's Asia Pacific Advisory Committee as well as a Member of the Asia Pacific Advisory Board of the Harvard Business School. FIE Foundation awarded Mr. Bajaj the Rashtrabhushan Award in 1996. Lokmanya Tilak Smarak Trust awarded Mr. Bajaj the Tilak Award in 2000. Government of India Conferred the Padma Bhushan to Mr. Bajaj in March 2001. He has done more than what the state of Maharashtra could have hoped for from a true son.

Ratna Saurabh - Shri Nandu Natekar is a name well known to all Maharashtrians, not just the badminton buff. One of the earliest awardees of the Arjuna Award in 1961, Natekar had the distinction of reaching the quarter finals in the men's singles in the All England Championships in 1954 in London, semi finals in the All American at Niagara Falls in 1980, 1981 and runner up in 1982. Several titles dot his illustrious badminton career. He has represented India at the Commonwealth Games in Jamaica in 1965, and has been honoured at the Jagatik Marathi Parishad in Mauritius in 1991. He was included among 'the Greats' in a souvenir published by Malaysia during the Thomas Cup series in 1954-55

Ratna Vahini Yogadaan - Doordarshan Sahyadri, the channel closest to the Marathi viewers, has retained its appeal, despite stiff competition from satellite channels that have mushroomed in the last few years. With programming designed to draw in the intellectual as well as the discerning viewer, its interactive shows and news programming have a huge following.

Have I made it large...

One good thing about Bollywood is it always respects the rising sun.If they need your assistance in any which way ,they will go out of their way to ensure that you are the most important person in their lives and career.
It starts with the exchange of telephone nos , followed by an invite for the evening party (in case the matter is urgent). You are then introduced to other film personalities. They are told all the good things about you. By the time dinner is laid, you learn that actually you are more important then any of them present their. You then decide to invite the host for your official function (with fingers crossed) and lo and behold your invite is accepted without betting an eyelid. In fact the host gives you a choice of more celebrities who can also attend your function.
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 You are on the top of the world, suddenly discovering that  you are more important then you think you really are. And the next moment the request from your host is immediate.... "Mukeshji  please see that my name is ticked off from the defaulters list" or may be... "I have submitted the proposal it will be the channel driver for your TV network"

Now if their work is done(on its merit) or otherwise you are soon forgotten. Or you are ticked of their list once you are not heading the cell that brought you closer to the Bollywood star.   They stop taking or returning  your calls. They actually don't know who you are, in case you bump into them in some party or function.

You are hurt most, if you are a simpleton from a small town and you have made it large due to your hard work and studies. You have grown with these larger then life figures. So when you meet them you genuinely try and help them, since they were the heroes of your life. You are under the impression that the heroes will not ask you to bend rules or go out of your way to help them because they did no wrong on the silver screen. Heart to heart you still ensure that their proposal is approved with the given frame work. But then some how it does not happen for reasons beyond your control.

 During my 33 years in the tinsel town, never ever I was proved wrong. Though I tried my best to tell my self that "this time the man is genuine" but my hopes were always short lived.
  Invariably I asked a question to myself.."Have I made it large?''