By A Correspondent
West Bengal has been a playing field for visionaries who emerged as thought leaders and have shown the way to rest of the countrymen, by just saying no to the negativity. STAR Ananda, Bengal’s leading news channel is celebrating this excellence through Sera Bangali.
Sera Bangali is a pioneering effort by STAR Ananda since 2006 for Bengal is and people from West Bengal who have made their state proud through their achievement. This biggest, and most credible, award function felicitates eminent personalities who have not only achieved excellence in their respective fields but have also helped to bring Bengal in the national as well as international limelight.
The awards are presented in a plethora of categories like art, film, music, education, business, science, sports and lifetime achievement. After runaway success of past 6 years, Bengal has now welcomed 2012 Sera Bangalis. The celebration was held on May 11 at Kolkata. It was a star studded event which started with a grand felicitation ceremony followed by a scintillating entertainment show.
The winners of Sera Bangali 2012 in various categories:
| Category | Awardee |
| Film (Actor) | Saswata Chatterjee |
| Film (Direction) | Srijit Mukherji |
| Music | Anupam Roy |
| Sports | Manoj Tiwari |
| Sports | Shakib Al Hasan |
| Public Life | Ruchira Gupta |
| Education | Sushanta Dattagupta |
| Science | Sumantra Chatterji |
| Business | Vinayak Chatterjee |
| Art | Lalu Prosad Shaw |
| Sera Abishkar | Aneek Dutta |
| Lifetime Achievement | Sunil Gangopadhyay |
| Serar Sera | Abhijit Vinayak Banerjee |
The nominees were selected following an in-depth research made by the MCCS Editorial team.
Past Sera Bangal is have included luminaries like Pranab Mukherjee- Minister of Finance, Dr Muhammad Yunus- Economist and winner of Nobel Peace Prize, Sourav Ganguly, Mithun Chakraborty, Rahul Bose and Anurag Basu.
Speaking on the occasion, Ashok Venkatramani, CEO, MCCS said: “We have dedicated ourselves to the recognition and felicitation of those personalities who have made Bengal proud and continue to do so. Sera Bangali is the truest effort in this direction to recognize those successful Bengal is, who not only have excelled in their respective fields, but have also helped in putting Bengal is in the global arena.”
The entertainment that follows the award function saw performances by distinguished artists like Kunal Ganjawala and Debojyoti Mishra.
STAR Ananda plays the role of the true leader by connecting these luminaries with the people. This is in accordance with the channel’s aim of reflecting and catalyzing the growth and resurgence of Bengal and also celebrating excellence.