Karan Johar, Kangana Ranaut, Ekta Kapoor, Adnan Sami ,Suresh Wadekar get Padma Shris

You really didn’r expect  Deepika Padukone to be   conferred  with a  Padma award,  did you?Not after her JNU visit  for sure.

This Republic Day, the Governmemt,  in all its time-tested wisdom has decided to  honour a selfsconsciously  motley crew  from the Indian  entertainment industry with Padma Shris.

So there  are the three K’s, Kangana  Ranaut and Karan  Johar(who can’t stand each  other) and Ekta Kapoor whose  television serials with titles beginning with the letter  ‘K’ not-so-subtly redefined  the  homeviewing  space  by aggrandizing the hope of  soap  via the medium of  tedium.

Karan Johar’s films from Kuch Kuch Hota Hai in 1998  to , ahem, Kalank and  Good Newwz  in 2019  revamped the  old  kitschy formula  of massy entertainment  with an urban tadka. He says he is humbled  by the Padma Shri. Don’t let that  façade of  humility fool you. Karan believes in his own  brand better than anyone else.

The sheer  volume of  work that Karan and Ekta have done makes them eligible for a Padma Shri(I guess!). By the way, does the Padma  mean Karan has been forgiven for his  naked  partiality towards the Pakistani heart-throb Fawad Khan  ,now replaced  by  the suitably Indian Vijay Deverakonda in the  producer-director’s range of  favour.

As for Ms Ranaut, she  has given one sterling performance after another,  Panga where she plays a retired kabbaddi player on a  comeback trail, being the latest. Not  just the  current government we all love Kangana Ranaut and  she richly deserves the honour.

Of course the fact that Kangana  is a  major  fan of prime minister Narendra Modi, and lashes out at anyone  who is seen to be  anti-Government, does  give her a  kind of edge, don’t you  think?I would love to hear  Ms Padukone’s opinion  on  this.

Giving the Padma Shri to singer-musician  Adnan Sami  is  a master-stroke. Adnan, who relinquished his Pakistani  heritage  to adopt Indian citizenship, is  just the  token presence  the  the government-sponsored  awards  need to make them look  complete credible and  versatile.

Adnan didn’t have to wait very long for  the Indian  government to recognize him.Sarita Joshi,  the  veteran  Gujarati stage-television and  film actress who has been  working since  the age  of  6 , also on the list of Padma Shri winners this year.

Luckily unlike unlike  Arun  Jaitley and Sushma Swaraj , Sarita Joshi, 78, is still here to  collect her   award.

The  Padma Shri for  singer Suresh Wadkar is also richly deserved. A classical trained singer  his contribution to  enriching Hindi film songs  with his knowledge  of the ragas, is  commendable.It is ironical that in  the list of  Padma Shri winners from the  entertainment world this year,2 out of  5 names are from  the music industry at a time when music in cinema is  at  its lowest ebb.