Padma Farce: Manoj Bajpai denied honour at last minute
To get a Padma award, the artiste needs to lobby hard, said a BJP politician.
While no one can deny or grudge the authenticity of singer Yesudas’ Padma Vibhushan awarded this year, the veracity of some of the Padma awards in the field of entertainment and cinema leave much room for scepticism.
A source close to the central government says, “There are two Bollywood singers in the last. One of them has sung just a handful of songs that sound repetitive and monotonous. The other singer who is long retired made a career out of imitating and ripping off Lata Mangeshkar’s songs. Both these Padma Sri awardees have been lobbying relentlessly. In fact a veteran lyricist was desperately sending feelers to everyone in the Government until the last moment. He didn’t make it to the list.”
Neither did poor Manoj Bajpai. His name was nearly finalised for the Padma Shri list. The media had got a whiff of it and friends, filmmakers and well-wishers had started congratulating him too. To his embarrassment, his name was missing from the list.
When a BJP politician was asked why Manoj Bajpai was denied the Padma Shri at the last minute, he explained, “Manoj is a brilliant actor. But he is just not pushy enough. To get a Padma award the artiste needs to lobby hard. Manoj didn’t even try. This is not the Nobel prize and Manoj is not Bob Dylan.”