Legendary singer and Bharata Ratna awardee Lata Mangeshkar has been awarded with the prestigious Akkineni Award. The award was presented to her at a special ceremony held at a hotel in Hyderabad today (Feb 01, 2010). The singer was felicitated in a grand manner in the presence of Chief Minister K. Rosaiah, Union Minister for Heavy Industries Vilasrao Deshmukh, cine actor Akkineni Nageswara Rao and senior Congress leader T. Subbirami Reddy.

Confessing to be a ‘fan’ of Mr. Nageswara Rao, Ms. Mangeshkar said that after Saigal’s ‘Devdas’, she had liked Mr. Nageswara Rao’s performance in ‘Devdas’ (Telugu) which she had watched over 10 times. “I am very happy that the award I have received is that of this great artiste. I know how difficult it is for artistes to come up and be successful in this industry and I appreciate this gesture,” she said while reserving special mention for singer P. Suseela whom she considers her ‘sister’.