Veteran Indian film actor Dharmendra was honored with a Lifetime Achievement Award by the state of New Jersey by a joint legislative resolution passed by the state’s senate and the general assembly.
Both houses of the legislature approved the resolution that recognizes Dharmendra’s “immeasurable contribution to the success of Hindi cinema over the course of his superb career of 60 years and over 300 films,” a news release from Senator Michael Doherty said.
Acknowledging the award, Dharmendra thanked Bollywood Insider for nominating him and expressed his gratitude to Senator Doherty for his leadership to secure the Award from the Legislature, and said: “I am extremely happy with this honor and proud to receive this one-of-a-kind award.”
The Award was conferred upon the veteran actor via a videoconference event organized by Bollywood Insider, a publication in the United States. Bollywood Insider and its YouTube channel Bollywood Insider USA had nominated Dharmendra “for the first ever historic award by a US state legislature for an Indian actor, for his contribution to bringing international recognition to Indian Cinema, through tens of millions of his fans around the world,” said its Publisher Varinder Bhalla.
Initial plans to invite the actor to receive the award at the New Jersey Senate were shelved due to coronavirus-related travel restrictions.
Senator Michael Doherty who introduced the Resolution in the Senate joined India’s Consul General in New York, Ambassador Randhir Jaiswal, publisher Varinder Bhalla, Dr Sudhir Parikh, and Assemblyman Upendra Chivukula to confer the honor.
Senator Doherty announced that the Resolution was unanimously passed by all 40 senators and 80 members of the General Assembly.
Ambassador Jaiswal thanked Senator Doherty for leading the Resolution in for the award to “a timeless hero and a great son of India, which was not only a matter of pride for Dharmendra and his family, but also for India.”
View the award ceremony over videoconference at:
