Eminent theatre artist Shri Raj Bisaria of Lucknow and renowned theatre artist Shri Banshi Kaul, active in Bhopal-New Delhi will be awarded with Rashtriya Kalidas Samman, established by Madhya Pradesh government for the field of theatre. Governor Shri Omprakash Kohli will present the awards in the award ceremony to be held on November 10 in Ujjain.

Rs. two lakh cash, citation and shawl and shriphal will be presented as award. Top theatre artist Shri Anil Rastogi, Shri Jayant Deshmukh and senior critic and writer Sushri Manjari Shrivastava included in the selection committee.

The committee unanimously chose Shri Raj Bisaria and Shri Banshi Kaul for the awards unanimously for the year 2015-16 and 2016-17 respectively. Both the dramatists, to be awarded with Rashtriya Kalidas Samman, are known for long -cherished practice, excellence and continuous creative activeness in the country.

Kalidas Samman

• The Kalidas Samman is a prestigious arts award presented annually by the government of Madhya Pradesh in India.
• The award is named after Kālidāsa, a renowned Classical Sanskrit writer of ancient India.
• The Kalidas Samman was first awarded in 1980. It was initially conferred in alternate years in the fields of Classical Music, Classical Dance, Theatre and Plastic Arts.
• From 1986-87 onwards, the awards were presented in all four fields every year.
• The award is presented for outstanding achievement in one of the four categories.
  At present, the award carries a cash prize of 200,000 (200,000) rupees.
• The winners are selected by a five-member committee appointed by the Government of Madhya Pradesh, which consists of eminent artists, art critics and officials from the Sangeet Natak Akademi (India’s National Academy for Music, Dance and Drama).