SALMAN KHAN WANTED

Aishwarya Rai and Akshay Kumar are among the popular Bollywood celebrities named for this year’s Padma Shri award.

The awards, a National honour, were announced on the occasion of India’s Republic Day. Apart from Ash and Akshay, Helen , the sensuous diva of yesteryears, has also been named for the award.

Aishwarya Rai, who is presently 35, has been the face of Bollywood the world over and has acted in a number of successful films like Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam , Devdas , Taal , Dhoom 2 and Guru . She has also worked in a couple of international projects like The Last Legion and the upcoming The Next Pink Panther .



Akshay Kumar, on the other hand, has risen steeply over the last few years. For a long time in his career Akshay was seen as a dependable star but he was still not in the top league. But since the consecutive successes of his films like Namastey London , Heyy Babyy , Bhool Bhulaiya , Welcome and Singh Is Kinng , he is seen as the darling of masses who throng to theatres to see his comedy. Akshay was also rewarded the most popular actor trophy at a Bollywood awards night recently, but the actor refused it, saying Aamir Khan deserved it better for his role in Ghajini .

As for Helen, she was the cabaret diva of Hindi films in the 1970s and 80s. Though most of her acts were raunchy, she commanded and still commands a great respect from the film fraternity.

Also named for the Padma Shri award is music composer, Pandit Hridaynath Mangeshkar, the younger brother of Lata Mangeshkar .