Award

Dr Shriram Lagoo, the Maharashtrian actor, got Sangeet Natak Academy's award in 1972.

He was surprised, he writes in his autobiography Laman (carrier). Academy was a national-level body, and he couldn't imagine that he had acquired enough stature to get the award within two years of starting out as a full-time actor.

Perhaps the Academy wanted to reward young theatre professionals, he thought.

He learnt how the award came to him later.

The head of the Academy's selection committee was Adi Rangacharya, a senior Kannad playwright.

Rangacharya decided that award for acting should go to a Marathi actor that year. He was thinking of Datta Bhat. Bhat was much senior to Lagoo.

But when the commitee's meeting started, Rangacharya couldn't remember Bhat's name. Instead, he blurted out Lagoo's name.

And the award went to Dr Shriram Lagoo.