The recent announcement that actor Kamal Haasan will be awarded the Chevalier de L’Ordre Arts et Lettres (The Knight of the Order of Arts and Letters) brings back memories of the day legendary actor Sivaji Ganesan was conferred the award over two decades ago.
In a grand event on April 22, 1995, at the M.A. Chidambaram Stadium to a packed audience, the late actor received the award from the then Ambassador of France in India, Philippe Petit in the presence of Chief Minister Jayalalithaa.
Actor Kamal Haasan too, incidentally, had attended the event.
The Chief Minister had then called Sivaji Ganesan the ‘Bhishma of the film world,’ and said he could merge himself with any character he portrayed. Watching him was akin to a university education, especially for budding artists, she said in her tribute.
As the thespian was the first Indian actor to have received the honour, preparations for the event were made on a grand scale.
By the day of the function, cut-outs of legends of Indian cinema such as Dev Anand had been erected outside Chennai airport.
Many prominent personalities such as Anand were personally received by director K. Balachander
A virtual who’s who of the Indian film industry was present at the function — Mammooty, Chiranjeevi and Nageswara Rao among others — and actor Rajinikanth proposed the vote of thanks.
It was also at this event that it was announced that South Boag Road, where Sivaji Ganesan lived, would henceforth be referred to as ‘Chevalier Sivaji Ganesan Salai.’
Other awardeesWhile the ceremony to honour Sivaji Ganesan obviously stands out, a number of other prominent personalities from Tamil Nadu and Puducherry have also been conferred the ‘Chevalier’ award over the years for their contributions.
In 2004, dancer Alarmel Valli received the ‘Chevalier des Arts et des Lettres’ for her contribution to the art. Puducherry, which has had a number of awardees through the years, has had a more diverse pool, including academicians, administrators and musicians.
