Akkineni award for Lata

Hyderabad, Jan 25: Noted Hindi playback singer and Bharat Ratna Lata Mangeshkar will be conferred with the prestigious `Akkineni Nageswara Rao Award 2009’ for her contribution to Indian cinema.

According to sources, the award will be presented to her at a glittering function to be held at Ravindra Bharati in Hyderabad by Chief Minister K Rosaiah on Feb 1.Akkineni Nageshwara Rao announced the award at a press meet at Annapoorna Studios here on Monday. The award carries a cash prize of Rs 4 lakh.Akkineni International Foundation, a trust floated by Dadasaheb Phalke Award winner Akkineni Nageswara Rao, will present the award to distinguished film personalities for their contribution to Indian cinema.

Earlier, the award was presented to Dev Anand, Vyjayanthi Mala Bali and Anjali Devi.Born on Sept 28, 1929 in Indore, Lata Mangeshkar has been active in all walks of Indian popular and light classical music and has sung thousands of film songs, ghazals, bhajans and pop.The Guinness Book of Records listed her as the most recorded artiste in the world with not less than 30,000 solo, duets and chorus-backed songs recorded in 20 Indian languages between 1948 and 1987.