Speaking at the annual “Mahanayak Samman” award ceremony at the city’s Dhano Dhanya auditorium on Wednesday, the Chief Minister also announced that “the Bengali film industry’s pride” Prosenjit Chatterjee would be the co-chairman of the film festival committee.

During the event, the Chief Minister conferred the Mahanayak Samman on Bengali singer Nachiketa Chakraborty. Actor-turned-TMC MP Rachna Banerjee, who also received the award, was not present at the event as she was travelling.

Since 2012, the Mamata Banerjee government has conferred the Mahanayak Samman and other awards in memory of Uttam Kumar, known as West Bengal’s matinee icon, for outstanding contributions to cinema.

Prosenjit Chatterjee was given a special award for contributing to the Bengali film industry for the last four decades. Actors Subhasish Mukherjee, Ambarish Bhattacharya and Rukmini Maitra received special film awards.

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