Padmashri Madhuri Dixit Nene!

It was a moment of glory for Bollywood diva Madhuri Dixit as she received the prestigious Padma Shri award today (May 10) from President Pratibha Patil for her outstanding contribution to Indian cinema.

The actor who is in the country with her husband Dr. Shriram Nene especially to receive the award is exceedingly happy with this recognition.

"It is a great honour. I am elated," said Padma Shri Madhuri Dixit.

Noted industrialist Ratan Tata, NRI steel baron Lakshmi Mittal, Metroman E Sreedharan and chess wizard Viswanathan Anand were also among the recipients of the Padma awards.

Former bureaucrat PN Dhar, former Chief Justice of India AS Anand and Nobel-prize winning environmentalist RK Pachauri also received the prestigious Padma Vibhushan at a glittering function at the Rashtrapati Bhavan in New Delhi.

Adding glamour to the event were Hollywood director Manoj Night Shyamalan, Punjabi folk singer Hans Raj Hans, versatile actor Tom Alter and footballer Baichung Bhutia, who received Padma Shri awards.

Melody queen P Susheela and noted economists Lord Meghnad Desai, Kaushik Basu and Padma Desai also received the Padma Bhushan award.

The best round of applause was reserved for Tata, who was honoured with the Padma Vibhushan, Bhutia, Shyamalan and Dixit, who received the Padma Shri.

Indian-American astronaut Sunita Williams did not turn up to receive the Padam Bhushan while respected Russian diplomat Yuli Mikhailovich Vorontsov's daughter received the award conferred on him posthumously.

Ignoring the clamour for Bharat Ratna triggered by BJP leader LK Advani's letter to the Prime Minister proposing Atal Bihari Vajpayee's name, the government decided against naming anyone for the award for the seventh consecutive year this time.

Bharat Ratna was last given in 2001 to Lata Mangeshkar and Ustad Bismillah Khan.

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, UPA Chairperson Sonia Gandhi and several union ministers attended the function.

Among the Padma Bhushan recipients were veena exponent Ustad Asad Ali Khan, industrialist Baba Neelkanth Kalyani, tribal leader Mian Bashir Ahmed, Inderjit Kaur, Jasdev Singh, Kantipudi Padmanabhaiah, Nirmal Kumar Ganguly, Suresh Kumar Neotia, Sushil Kumar Saxena, Viswanathan Ramachandran and Ravindra Kelekar.

Those who received Padma Shri included Aheibam Jayant Kumar Singh, Amitabh Mattoo, Barkha Dutt, Bholabhai Patel, Cannigaiper Uthamaroyan Velmurugendran, Pandit Gokulotsav Maharaj, Heisnam Sabitri, Indu Bushan Sinha, Jawahar Wattal, KS Nishar Ahmed and Kaleem Ullah Khan.

French national Colette Mathur and Russian theatre personality Gennadi Mikhailovich Pechnikov also received the honour.

Karuna Mary Braganza, Kasturi Lal Chopra, Kekoo M Gandhy, Kutikuppala Surya Rao, Madan Mohan Sabharwal, Mohan Chandra Pant, Moozhikkulam Kochukuttan Chakkyar, Rakesh Kumar Jain, Sant Singh Virmani, Sheela Barthakur, Sirkazhi G Siva Chidambaram, Surjya Kanta Hazarika, Vellur Ramachandra Gowrishankar, Yella Venkateswara Rao, Mohammed Yusuf Taing also received the Padma Shri.

Times Now