Bollywood singer and musician Adnan Sami has been honoured with the Indian National Award, Padma Shri, in a ceremony held at Dehli’s Rashtrapati Bhavan.
Honoured by the Indian President Ram Nath Kovind, the other recipients of the Padma Shri were Kangana Ranaut, Karan Johar, Ekta Kapoor and late singer SP Balasubramaniam.
The ex-Pakistani singer was dressed in a black sherwani and with gold embroidery and he beamed with pride after being conferred with the National Award.
Popular Playback singer Adnan Sami khan conferred Padma Shri by #PresidentKovind at @rashtrapatibhvn #PadmaAwards2020 #PeoplesPadma pic.twitter.com/2THBtvZgNv
— PIB in Telangana ????????#AmritMahotsav (@PIBHyderabad) November 8, 2021
Sami has been the centre of many headlines previously. The singer who is of Pakistani origin became an Indian citizen in 2016.
Moreover, he was widely criticised when the Padma Shri winner list was announced in January with the Nationalist Congress Party calling it an “insult to 130 crore Indians.”
Speaking to news agency PTI after controversy erupted, Sami said, “The people who are criticising are some minor politicians. They are doing it because of some political agenda that they have and it has nothing to do with me. I am not a politician, I am a musician.”