The 18th Kishore Kumar awards was held at Pearey Lal Auditorium, New Delhi. The programme was organised by Kishore Kumar Memorial Club (KKMC) to pay tributes to the legendary singer-actor Kishore Kumar. The well-known art promoter, Lala Ram, CP Sharma and Amarjit Singh Kohli jointly inaugurated the function by lilting the lamp. The KKMC founder, general secretary, Kamal Dhimanm, demanded Indian Government to confer the posthumous Bharat Ratna to legendary Kishore Kumar on this occasion.
Under the supervision of Parveen Sharma, president, KKMC and DC Maurya, vice president, KKMC, a book titled Madhubala — The Venus of Indian Cinema by Kamal Dhiman was also released. The book consists of the contribution of Madhubala as an actress and producer. Dhiman said, “Every year, two awards are given to those who have made significant contribution in the field of art and culture (Kala Ratna Award) and society (Samaj Ratna Award). This year, Kala Ratna Award was given to film actors — Manoj Bakshi, Banwari Lal Jhol and Deepak Raja, linguist Dr SC Chadha, dental surgeon Dr Gautam Khatak, lyricist Pradeep Sharma Khusro, author Narendra Singh while the Samaj Ratna Awardees were social activist Pt Mahesh Chandra Sharma, Sandeep Kumar, Pankaj Kumar Shrotriya, Ajay Bansal and Rakesh Pandey.
