Chennai Bharatanatyam guru Sudharani Raghupathy is one of seven artists named Fellows of the Sangeet Natak Akademi in the combined list for 2024 and 2025, which the Union Culture Ministry announced in June 2026. The same round named 108 artists for the Akademi Puraskar and 106 young artists for the Ustad Bismillah Khan Yuva Puraskar, News On AIR reported.
The Akademi’s honours are the national counterpart of the state’s Kalaimamani, and Carnatic music and Bharatanatyam, the two forms most closely tied to Chennai’s stages, are well represented. Here is what each honour carries and the Carnatic and dance names on the latest list.
The three honours
| Honour | Purse | Conferred by |
|---|---|---|
| Akademi Fellowship (Akademi Ratna) | Rs 3 lakh | President of India |
| Akademi Award (Akademi Puraskar) | Rs 1 lakh, with tamrapatra and angavastram | President of India |
| Ustad Bismillah Khan Yuva Puraskar | Rs 25,000, with tamrapatra and angavastram | Akademi Chairman |
The Fellowship is the rarest. Mylapore Times notes that only 40 people hold it in the country at any given time. The Puraskar covers music, dance, theatre and traditional, folk, tribal and puppetry forms, and the Yuva Puraskar is meant for younger artists at the start of their careers.
The Fellows
The seven Fellows on the official list are Ramlal Bareth, A.V. Anand, Rita Ganguly, Puru Dadheech, Chittaranjan Jyotishi, Pasumarthi Rattaiah Sarma and Sudharani Raghupathy. Mylapore Times describes Prof. Raghupathy as a Bharatanatyam guru who lives on Luz Church Road and still teaches and gives lecture-demonstrations.
Carnatic music on the Akademi Puraskar list
The list names each awardee by discipline but not by home state, so we have not labelled anyone below as Chennai-based. These are the Carnatic entries as the list gives them.
2024
- Carnatic vocal: K. Vageesh, N. Vijay Siva
- Carnatic instrumental, violin: Komanduri Seshadri
- Carnatic instrumental, morsing (listed as morchang): A.S. Krishnan
2025
- Carnatic vocal: Pantula Rama, Papanasam Ashok Ramani
- Carnatic instrumental: Tripunithura N. Radhakrishnan (ghatam), Anoor R. Anantha Krishna Sharma (mridangam), D. Srinivas (veena)
- Overseas, music (mridangam): T.S. Nandakumar
Bharatanatyam and allied forms
- 2024 Puraskar, Bharatanatyam: Rajeswari Sainath
- 2025 Puraskar, Bharatanatyam: Roja Kanan; music for Bharatanatyam: K. Hariprasad
- Folk dance from Puducherry (2024): K. Murugan
- Acting (2024): Vaagai Chandrasekar is among the names in the acting category
Young artists: the Yuva Puraskar
For listeners who follow the younger generation in the sabha circuit, the Yuva list is the more interesting one. Its Carnatic and Bharatanatyam names are:
- 2024: Lahari Kolachela and Sreedev Rajagopalan (vocal), Peri Thyagaraju (violin), J.A. Jayant (flute), Rahul Dev Mondal (Bharatanatyam).
- 2025: Ranjani Vasuki and Sriranjani Santhanagopalan (vocal), B.S. Prashanth (mridangam), Shaik Mahboob Subhani (mandolin), V.T. Satchidanandan (Bharatanatyam), and C. Saravanan (folk music, Puducherry).
Reading the list
The official list is arranged by discipline rather than by state, and the categories are finer than many readers expect. Carnatic music is split into vocal and separate instrumental entries (violin, veena, mridangam, ghatam, morsing). Dance has its own entry for music composed for dance, which is how a Bharatanatyam musician such as K. Hariprasad appears. There is an overseas category for Indian-origin artists who work abroad, and an “overall contribution” category; the 2024 list names T.S. Sathyavathi and Voleti Rangamani under it without a discipline.
Because 2024 and 2025 were announced together, several Carnatic names appear in each year. If you want to hear the awardees, the simplest way is to look for them in the December season schedules of the city’s sabhas, where most of the Carnatic names on this list perform regularly.
How this fits with Chennai’s other honours
The Akademi’s awards sit alongside the state’s Kalaimamani and the three all-India awards of Rs 1 lakh each that the Tamil Nadu Eyal Isai Nataka Manram gives in the names of Bharathi, M.S. Subbulakshmi and Balasaraswathi, according to the Art and Culture Department. Private titles such as those given by the city’s sabhas are separate again. A musician can hold all three kinds, and many senior Chennai artists do.
Investiture ceremonies are held in New Delhi. The Yuva Puraskar has its own ceremony conducted by the Akademi.
Quick answers
Who from Chennai became a Sangeet Natak Akademi Fellow in 2026?
Bharatanatyam guru Sudharani Raghupathy, one of seven Fellows in the combined 2024 and 2025 list.
How much is the Sangeet Natak Akademi award worth?
Rs 1 lakh for the Akademi Puraskar, Rs 3 lakh for the Fellowship and Rs 25,000 for the Yuva Puraskar.
Which years did the latest list cover?
Both 2024 and 2025, announced together in June 2026.
Information checked against official sources on 18 October 2026. Fees, dates and rules can change; confirm on the linked official pages before acting.
Sources
- Culture Ministry announces Sangeet Natak Akademi Fellowships, Awards and Ustad Bismillah Khan Yuva Puraskar (News On AIR)
- Sangeet Natak Akademi Fellowships and Awards 2024 and 2025: list (Press Information Bureau)
- Dance guru Prof. Sudharani Raghupathy chosen to be Fellow of Sangeet Natak Akademi (Mylapore Times)
- Awards of Tamil Nadu Eyal Isai Nataka Manram (Department of Art and Culture)
