October 19, 2001	Friday	Shaba'an 1, 1422

MUMBAI, Oct 18: The Indian government has awarded Bollywood singer Asha Bhonsle the nation’s most prestigious cinema award, officials announced here on Thursday.

The 68-year-old Bhonsale won the Phalke award after singing more than 12,000 songs in various Indian languages. She is especially popular among Bollywood fans for her Hindi film songs of the 1970s and 80s.

She is the younger sister of India’s legendary singer Lata Mangeshkar, who also has received the Phalke award and is popularly called “India’s nightingale” for her melodious renditions spanning six decades.

Bhonsale, quoted by Indian news website www.ndtv.com, said her own Phalke was long overdue.

“I am feeling very good on receiving the award but it has been given too late because I was born in 1933 and I have been singing for the last 56 years. I sang my first song in 1943 and I have got this award now. But they have remembered me and that is a lot,” she said.

The cinema award is named in memory of renowned producer and director, Dadasaheb Phalke.—AFP