The Central government announced the list of Padma awardees late on Friday evening with five from Kerala figuring on the list. Actor Mohanlal and former ISRO scientist Nambi Narayanan were conferred with the Padma Bhushan, the third highest civilian award of the country.
Archaeologist K.K. Muhammed, Sree Narayana Dharma Sanghom president Swami Vishuddhananda, and Carnatic musician K.G.Jayan were chosen for the Padma Shri. In a career spanning more than four decades, Mohanlal has played a wide range of roles that have endeared him to the masses, as well as fetched him several awards at the national and State level. Nambi Narayanan, who was heading the cryogenic project at the ISRO, was falsely implicated in the ISRO spy scandal of 1994. The Supreme Court later cleared him of all charges in 1998 and awarded him a compensation in 2018.
K.K. Muhammed, Regional Director (North) of the Archaeological Survey of India, played a key role in several archaeological discoveries from the Maurya and Mughal dynasty periods. He had made a claim in his autobiography that there is evidence of a temple which existed under the Babri Masjid.
Mr. Jayan, an exponent of Carnatic music, is also known for his contributions to film and devotional music.
