The Punjab Government recognized the role of Bollywood & Entertainment industry in promotion of Punjabi language, culture & heritage on global shores by honoring the celebrities in a glittering ceremony held at Mumbai last evening.
Sewa Singh Sekhwan, Education and Language Minister, Punjab on behalf of Punjab government felicitated galaxy of film stars producers and other personalities of entertainment industry for their role in promoting Punjabi language and culture. Prominent amongst those honored on the occasion included Yash Chopra, Prem Chopra, Om Puri, Poonam Dhillon, Gul Panag, Manmohan Singh, Jaspinder Narula, Sonu Sood, Neeru Bajwa, Divya Dutta, Bhupinder-Mitali and Navneet Nishan.
Presiding over the 29th All India Literary & Cultural program Virsa-2011 organized by Punjab Language Department, Mr. Sekhwan announced the setting up of a Punjabi Academy to promote Punjabi in films, television & radio and animation programs with active participation of stalwarts of Media Entertainment industry. He said that Punjab government was requesting Maharashtra government to allot suitable piece of land at Mumbai or Navi Mumbai for this purpose.
Sekhwan said that role of Punjabis in promoting Punjabi language through films and entertainment industry could not be ignored as Punjabis after partition have a sterling role in this. He said that right from Kapur family, Chopra family and Anands, bollywood owes its existence to Punjabis. The Education Minister pointed out that the biggest challenge for us was to involve our young generation in promotion of Punjabi language and culture and expressed confidence that our joint and concerted efforts would do wonders in this direction. Lauding the role of writers and journalists settled outside Punjab in promotion of Punjabi language and culture, Sekhwan assured to frame a special policy for publication of their works so that their writings could get wide readership.
Cautioning against sometimes wrong and non serious depiction of Punjabi language and character, Sekhwan appealed the representatives of Media entertainment Industry to be very careful on this front as even inadvertent action attracts the public anger thereby posing a serious threat to the social fabric of any region.
Congratulating the State Language department for organizing such an impressive function at a short notice, the Minister said that he was moved by the overwhelming response of the media entertainment industry. He also appealed the Punjabis settled in any part of the country to ensure the regular visits of their younger generation so that they can themselves have feel of their roots, language and culture. The minister also appreciated the role of Mumbaikars’ Gurinder Singh Bawa & Swaran Salaria and Major Gulshan Sharma, Chairman, ITFT Education Group, Chandigarh for making this initiative a grand success.
Earlier, Balbir Kaur, Director, Languages Department welcomed the august gathering and gave a brief account of the efforts of the department in promotion of Punjabi along with other languages.
Speaking on the occasion, Tarlochan Singh, Former MP and former Chairman, National Minority Commission shared his experiences and made valuable suggestions for the promotion of Punjabi Language, Culture and heritage. Dr. Roshan Sunkaria, Secretary Higher Education and Language and Mr. Mahender Singh Khari, President NRI Affairs-IPCSI, UK also spoke on the occasion.
On this occasion, Sufi Singer Dr. Mamta Joshi regaled the audience with her unique presentation of Sufi singing and renowned Punjabi comedians Gurpreet Ghuggi and Rana Ranbir’s humorous nodes proved to be icing on the cake. Stage was conducted by Dr Satish Verma.
On this occasion, 85 eminent personalities included Prikshit Sahni, Raza Murad, Viru Devgan, Uttam Singh, Ajit Singh Deol, Buta Singh Shad, Ravinder Peepat, Gurdas Mann, Harmeet Singh, Rama Vij, Divya Dutta, Bhumika Chawla, Surveen Chawla, Bhupinder Siyan, Rakesh Bedi, Amrik Gill, Jaidev Kumar, Subhash Sehgal, Mohan Baggar, Raman Kumar, Rana Jang Bahadur, Naresh Malhotra, Guddu Dhanoa, Hansraj Hans, Sonu Sood, Neeru Bajwa, Deep Dhillion, Daljit Kaur, Deepak Seth-Rameshwari, Azim Parker, Arun Bakhshi Om Kar Bhakhri, Amarinder Gill, Gurpreet Ghughi, Ranvijay , Vikram Ghumman, Navneet Singh, Kawaljit Singh Sandhu, Kulwant Singh Kohli, Charanjit Singh Sapra, Dr. Ajit Singh, Dr. P.S.Pasricha, Dr. Bhpinder Singh Minhas, Major Kuldeep Kaushal and Ms. Awantika Sharma were honored by the Punjab government for their life time achievements as well as their selfless service for promotion of their mother tongue Punjabi besides rich culture and heritage of the Punjab. Besides this Late Mohinder Kapoor, Late Manohar Deepak, Late Anand Bakshi, Late Vivak Shook, Late Majnu, Late Manoj Punj, Late Suraj Saneem were awarded posthumously.
