Karnati Lakshmi Narasayya, Chinta Kabir Das and Aggarapu Rajani Bhai received the state-level Kandukuri Pratisthatmaka Rangastala Puraskarams for the year 2017 along with a cash prize of Rs 1 lakh and a citation each.
Nandi Theatre Awards-2016 were also presented in 67 categories. Andhra Pradesh Assembly speaker Kodela Siva Prasad presented the awards in a glittering fete held at Sri Venkateswara Anam Kalakendram here on Sunday.
Speaking on the occasion, Kodela Siva Prasad observed that theatre arts were losing their glory. He stressed the need for the revival of theatre arts and reminded that theatre arts are still drawing public attention in other countries. Stating that Nandi Awards were confined to cinema alone in the past, he expressed happiness over these awards being presented to the stage artistes. He lamented that that plight of most of the stage artistes is miserable and called upon everyone to support stage artistes.
He recalled that historical city of Rajamahendravaram was home to reforms culture, literature and poetry and added that it is great stage for the artistes to receive awards.Gummadi Gopalakrishna received Nandamuri Taraka Rama Rao Rangastala Puraskaram for the year 2016 along with a cash prize of Rs 1.50 lakh along with citation. As many as 65 stage artistes from 13 districts of Andhra Pradesh have received Kandukuri Visistha Puraskarams and each of them received cash prize of Rs 10,000 along with citation.
Deputy chairman of legislative council Reddy Subrahmunyam, Rajamahendravaram MP Maganti Muralimohan, Mayor Pantam Rajani Sesha Sai, MLC Adireddi Appa Rao and MLAs Dr Akula Satyannarayana, Gorantla Butchaiah Chowdary and Nallamilli Ramakrishna Reddy were also present.