"Padma Shri contains blessings of 140 crore people": Sculpture artist Adwaita Charan Gadanayak expresses gratitude

Bhubaneswar (Odisha) [India], January 26 : Renowned Sculpture artist Adwaita Charan Gadanayak on Sunday expressed immense joy and gratitude after being conferred with the Padma Shri for Art, calling the award a reflection of the blessings of 140 crore people.
Famous for his iconic works, including the statue of Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose at the National War Memorial and the Mahatma Gandhi Dandi March statue at Rajghat, Gadanayak shared his heartfelt emotions on receiving the prestigious award.
"This is a big honour for me. This award contains the blessings of 140 crore people. What more does an artist need? It makes you feel that someone is supporting you when the PM asks about your well-being. When I created the statue of Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose then it took 2 to 3 years to process. Padma Shri is a very special award. It is huge like the sea, and an award like this also makes your shoulders heavy with the thought that you have to do a lot more in the future," he said.
Gadanayak shared that his journey started in a village in Dhenkanal and recounted the challenge of making Mahatma Gandhi's Dandi March sculpture at Rajghat.
"When I got a chance to make Mahatma Gandhiji's sculpture of Dandi March at Rajghat, I handled such a big stone for the first time and worked for three years on it. Lakhs of people used to follow him then I conceptualized it. Then I worked with the Piramal group in Mumbai. I met Pandit Jasraj ji in Mumbai. He said he would take 18 slokas of Gita. He said he would prepare the music and I should make the sculpture. I worked with him for 4 to 5 years. Most of my sculptures are in Delhi. I used 300 to 400 tonnes of stone to make a structure at the National Police Memorial in Delhi," he added.
Renowned sculptor Adwaita Charan Gadanayak, calligraphy artist Achyut Ramchandra Palav, Bollywood singer Arijit Singh, comedian and actor Ashok Laxman Saraf, classical vocalist Ashwini Bhide Deshpande, Barry Godfray John, Bhimavva Doddabalappa Shillekyathara, singer Jaspinder Narula, Nirmala Devi, Nitin Nohria, P Datchanamoorthy, Pandi Ram Mandavi, Grammy-winning musician Ricky Kej, are among those being awarded Padma Shri.
The Padma awards, among the country's highest civilian honours, are conferred in three categories - Padma Shri, Padma Bhushan, and Padma Vibhushan. The Padma Awards are conferred by the President of India.
The Centre announced the list of recipients for the prestigious Padma Awards on Saturday, with President Droupadi Murmu's approval for 139 honorees.
The list includes 7 Padma Vibhushan, 19 Padma Bhushan, and 113 Padma Shri awards.
Among the awardees are 23 women, and the list features 10 distinguished individuals from the Foreigners, NRI, PIO, and OCI categories, as well as 13 posthumous awardees. The recognition spans a wide array of fields, honouring exceptional contributions to the nation's progress and global standing.