Lahore (NUT-DESK)
Bollywood personalities Adnan Sami and Kangana Ranaut are a few names being honoured with the Padma Shri on Monday in a ceremony held at Dehli’s Rashtrapati Bhavan (President House),
They were feted with the honour by Indian President Ram Nath Kovind. Other recipients of the Padma Shri this year from the world of arts include Karan Johar, Ekta Kapoor and late singer SP Balasubramaniam.
Clad in a black sherwani and with gold embroidery, Adnan beamed with pride after being conferred with the Indian National Award.
The honour didn’t come without its fair share of controversy. Sami, who is of Pakistani origin and became an Indian citizen in 2016; was widely criticised when the Padma Shri winner list was announced in January with the Nationalist Congress Party calling it an “insult to 130 crore Indians.”
Speaking to news agency after controversy erupted, Sami said, “The people who are criticising are some minor politicians. They are doing it because of some political agenda that they have and it has nothing to do with me. I am not a politician, I am a musician.”
