Ramanagara (Karnataka) [India], January 26 : Kannada film stunt artist and stunt director KH Raghu, popularly known as Hassan Raghu, has been honoured with the Padma Shri by the central government.
He is an expert in various martial arts, including Kalaripayattu and gymnastics. In a conversation with ANI, he expressed his gratitude to the government for the award, saying, "I am thankful to the government for recognising my talent and giving this honour. I have been teaching martial arts to students."
Raghu has worked as a stunt director in more than a hundred films and was awarded the special award of the state government in 1984-85 for the stunt direction of the film 'Accident'.
"I have been working in films for about 20 years and also worked in theatre," he added.
He is currently running a stunt art school in Bengaluru and teaching martial arts.
On the eve of Republic Day, the central government on Saturday announced the list of recipients for the Padma Shri Awards 2025.
The Padma awards, among the country's highest civilian honours, are conferred in three categories - Padma Shri, Padma Bhushan, and Padma Vibhushan.
The awards are given in various disciplines, such as art, social work, public affairs, science and engineering, trade and industry, medicine and literature among others.
The list comprises 7 Padma Vibhushan, 19 Padma Bhushan and 113 Padma Shri Awards.
These Awards are conferred by the President of India at ceremonial functions which are held at Rashtrapati Bhawan usually around March/ April every year. 23 of the awardees are women and the list also includes 10 persons from the category of Foreigners/NRI/PIO/OCI and 13 posthumous awardees, as per the Ministry of Home Affairs press release.
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