Kamal Haasan was conferred with 'Viswa Kala Bharathi' award by Bharat Kalachar in Chennai Friday for his outstanding service in the field of Tamil cinema with global recognition.

Union Minister of State for Information and Broadcasting S Jagathrakshakan conferred the honour on the actor as part of the 23rd Margazhi Mahotsav of Bharat Kalachar.

Inaugurating the music festival, Jagathrakshakan said that December was a month for jubilation for music lovers of Tamil Nadu. "We should congratulate Bharat Kalachar for conducting such a wonderful event and identifying talents."

For his service in the field of Carnatic music T V Sankaranarayanan was given 'Gana Kala Bharti Award' and B Saroja Devi and K S Raghuram were conferred with 'Natya Kaladhar Awards' for their contributions in Tamil cinema.

C V Chandrasekar was honored with 'Acharya Kala Bharathi Award' for his outstanding service in the field of Bharathanatyam for decades as a Guru. For bringing out excellent documentray films and T V serials S V Ramanan was given with 'Kala Seva Bharti Award'. While ' Nadaga Kala Bharati Award ' was given to V S Raghavan ' Hasya Kala Bharati', an award instituted in memory of C K Nagesh, was conferred to Chitralaya Gopu.

'Yuva Kala Bharati' awards were also distributed to young artists by the Minister. He also released Annual Souvenir of 22nd Bharat Kalachar Festival and inaugurated 'Cornea Project' of Rajan Eye Care Hospital.

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