Sahitya Akademi award for Dr M Mongsaba
Source: The Sangai Express / Manipur Info Centre

New Delhi, March 11 2014 : Renowned film maker Dr Makhonmani Mongsaba received the prestigious Sahitya Akademi Award for the year 2013 this evening from the President of Sahitya Akademi Dr Viswanath Prasad Tiwari in a solemn ceremony held at Kamani Auditorium here.

He was honoured with the Award in the form of a casket containing an engraved copper-plaque, a shawl and a cheque of Rs.one lakh for his travelogue in Manipuri-Chinglon Amadagi Amada.

Famous poets honoured with the Award for the year 2013 were Rabindra Sarkar (Assamese), Subodh Sarkar (Bengali), Anil Boro (Bodo), Sitaram Sapolia (Dogri), Chinu Modi (Gujarati), Ambika Dutt (Rajasthani), Radhakant Thakur (Sanskrit), Arjun Charan Hembram (Santali), Namdev Tarachandani (Sindhi) and Javed Akhtar Urdu).

The well-known novelists Mridula Garg (Hindi), Manmohan (Punjabi) and RN Joe D' Cruz (Tamil) were among those honoured with the Sahitya Akademi Awards 2013 .

Dr Mongsaba receiving the award

CN Ramachandran (Kannada), Tukaram Rama Shet (Konkani), Satish Kalasekar (Marathi), and Katyayani Vidmahe(Telugu) got the Award for their books of essays.

Temsula Ao (English) and Mohi-ud- Din Reshi (Kashmiri) got the Award for their books of short stories, Makhonmani Mongsaba (Manipuri) and Man Bahadur Pradhan (Nepali) got the Award for their travelogues.

M.N.Paloor (Malayalam) for his autobiography, Sureshwar Jha (Maithili) for his memoirs and Bijoy Misra (Odia) for his play were honoured.

Makhonmani's travelogue expresses his new experience relating to art and culture in foreign countries during the tour of Chorus Repertory Theatre's drama shows led by world renowned theatre director Ratan Thiyam during 1987 -95.The author was one of the performing artistes of the Chorus Repertory Theatre during the tour.

The citation said, "In this work, the author recounts his travels as a member of a cultural troupe in foreign several countries.

The work is a storehouse of the valuable information about the places he visited like topography, historical background and among others.

The style of the language is forceful and the narrative is inspiring.

As such, Chinglon Amadagi Amada is considered as an important contribution to the genre of Indian travelogue in Manipuri" .

A Ph D in Manipuri, Makhonmani earlier wrote two books of short story collections namely Ningshinglubada(1982) and Nupee Keithel(1984), a critical study on language namely Waheigi Saklon, a poetry- Thong Nambonbi(1992), two essays namely Manipuri Sanskritida Pena(2010) and Mannadaba Maithongshing (2013) .

Makhonmani Mongsaba is also a renowned film maker of Manipur.

His debut Manipuri film- Chatledo Eidi the Best Regional film in Manipuri in the 48th National Film Awards 2000.His second film Yenning Amadi Likla was selected in India Panorama and screened in 38the International Film Festival of India in 2007.His latest film Nangna Kappa Pakchade was screened in Delhi and Kolkata.

He was jury member of 51st National Film Award 2003 and 57th.National Film Award 2009, organised by Directorate of Film Festivals, New Delhi.

Born on 1st March 1959, he was the son of Modhusudon Mongsatabam and Amumacha Mongsatabam of Uripok Achom Leikai.