National award
- Last updated: January 30, 2026 | 19:55 ..
Dharmendra attends the promotional event of an upcoming film in Kolkata. File/AFP
India’s darling actor Dharmendra has been bestowed the country’s second highest award, the Padma Vibhushan. This is wonderful news.
I wonder, how happy this recognition would have made him and his family if it had been conferred a few months earlier, when he was alive. He passed away just two months ago. He had been acting for 65 years, in around 300 films.
Yet, we chose to honour him after he had passed away. And I wonder, why we do not show due recognition to people when they are yet alive, to make them and their families rejoice.
Rajendra Aneja
Mumbai, India