The Andhra Pradesh state government has decided to honour Amitabh Bachchan with NTR National Award for the year 2011 for his outstanding contribution to cinema. Although Amitabh Bachchan hasn’t acted in a direct Telugu film, he has been acting in films for over four decades and he has played lead roles in countless blockbuster films. Apart from Amitabh Bachchan, another critically acclaimed director Shyam Benegal is going to be conferred with BN Reddy award. Incidentally, Shyam Benegal was also conferred with ANR National Award earlier this year for his contribution to cinema.
Padmalaya Studios’ head G Adhiseshagiri Rao is going to receive the Nagireddy Chakrapani award for his contribution to growth and development of cinema. On the other hand, veteran actor Kaikala Satyanarayana has been selected to receive the prestigious Raghupathi Venkaiah award. All these awards are going to be presented in a grand ceremony on the eve of Ugadi this year. All these four recipients of prestigious state awards were elected by a committee comprising of Thammareddy Bharadwaj, K C Sekhar Babu and M Balayya.