SP Balasubrahmanyam will be felicitated with the Centenary Award for Indian Film Personality of the Year at the 47th International Film Festival of India (IFFI) in Goa. The announcement was made by Union Minister for Information & Broadcasting, Venkaiah Naidu, on Twitter.
Sh S. P. Balasubrahmanyam,the acclaimed singer, is conferred Centenary Award for Indian Film Personality of #IFFI2016 My compliments to him
— M Venkaiah Naidu (@MVenkaiahNaidu) November 1, 2016
Naidu also issued an official statement :
“Balasubrahmanyam will be honoured for his talent. He has been working in the film industry since past five decades and has rendered more than 40,000 songs. He is a big name in Telugu, Tamil, Kannada, Malayalam and also in Hindi. He has a melodious voice and hard working nature. It’s an award, not a reward.”
Speaking to Silverscreen, SBP said that he was deeply honoured to receive the award. “I consider this award to be a great blessing. When people give me such great honours, I often ponder if I am truly worthy. My achievement is not mine alone. There are many people who worked hard for me to get to this place. I shall think of all of them fondly when I receive such acclaim.”
He also thanked the Union Minister for his words.
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Born Sripathi Panditaradhyula Balasubrahmanyam, SPB has received six National Awards and sung approximately 40,000 songs. The Padma Bhushan and Padma Sri awards, the second and third highest civilian awards in India, have also been conferred on him. He made his singing debut in 1966, with a song in the Telugu film Sri Sri Sri Maryada Ramanna. The song was composed by his mentor SP Kothandapani.
The IFFI festival, organised by the Government of India’s Film Division, will be held in Goa this year. The festival begins on November 20 and goes on till November 28.
To mark the singer’s 50th year in the industry, a group of his fans have also organised a concert in Russia.