60 film celebrities to be feted in Chennai

250 artistes to present four-hour programme on 80 years of Kannada films

The Karnataka Film Chamber of Commerce (KFCC) has selected 60 film personalities for felicitation at a function organised by South Indian Film Chamber of Commerce (SIFCC) from September 21 to 24 at Chennai to mark the centenary of Indian cinema.

Though, earlier, it was decided to select 50 people, 60 were chosen finally, KFCC sources said.

The list includes Parvathamma Rajkumar, Bharathi Vishnuvardhan, Ambareesh, B. Saroja Devi, Leelavathi, Jayanti, Dwarkish, S.V. Rajendrasingh Babu, Ravichandran and Girish Kasaravalli.

The others, according to sources, are S. Shivaram, Harini, Jayamala, Ajanta Raju, K.C.N. Chandrashekar, Vijay Reddy, S.K. Bhagavan, K.S.L. Swamy (Ravee), Lahari Velu, Babu Khan, B.K. Sumithra, Rajesh Krishnan, Ashok, S.T. Ankalagi, K.N. Taylor, B.S. Basavaraj, M.S. Umesh and Mugur Sundar.

Chief Ministers of the four South Indian States Siddaramaiah, J. Jayalalithaa (Tamil Nadu), Oommen Chandy (Kerala) and N. Kiran Kumar Reddy (Andhra Pradesh) will participate in the finale to be held at Nandan Auditorium in Chennai on September 24.

The events of September 22 and 23 would be held at the Jawaharlal Nehru Indoor Stadium which can seat 12,000 people. The Malayalam and Tamil chapters of the film chamber would share four hours each to make presentations on September 22 and Telugu and Kannada industry would take the two slots the next day.

A contingent of over 250 artistes would visit Chennai to offer the four-hour entertainment programme representing 80 years of the Kannada film industry. It is learnt that Home Minister K.J. George, Minister of State for Kannada and Culture Umashree and Transport Minister Ramalinga Reddy are also going to Chennai.

Artistes and technicians are now rehearsing at Rockline Studio and dance master Kalai and choreographer-director Harsha are training them.

The grand finale will see Darshan, Sudeep, Upendra, Puneeth Rajkumar, Shivarajkumar, Ravichandran, Ambareesh, Ragini Dwivedi, Radhika Pandit, Aindrita Ray, Radhika Kumaraswamy and Priyanka Upendra dance to some popular Kannada numbers.