Vishnuvardhan, Saroja Devi To Be Honoured Posthumously With Karnataka Ratna Award

Bengaluru: The Karnataka government has decided to confer the state's highest civilian honour, the Karnataka Ratna, posthumously on Kannada actors Vishnuvardhan and B Saroja Devi. The decision was taken during a state cabinet meeting chaired by Chief Minister Siddaramaiah on Thursday.

Law and Parliamentary Affairs Minister HK Patil announced the decision while briefing reporters after the meeting. "The cabinet today decided that the Karnataka Ratna be conferred on Vishnuvardhan and Saroja Devi. The government will decide the date of presentation of awards later," Patil said.

With this recognition, the two actors will become the 10th and 11th recipients of the Karnataka Ratna award. Until now, only two other actors - Dr Rajkumar and his son Puneeth Rajkumar - have received the honour. Rajkumar shared the award with poet Kuvempu when it was first instituted in 1992, while Puneeth Rajkumar was honoured posthumously in 2022.

Vishnuvardhan, born Sampath Kumar on September 18, 1950, was affectionately called "Saahasa Simha" for his action-oriented roles. During his career, he appeared in over 220 movies across Kannada, Tamil, Telugu, Malayalam, and Hindi films. He died on December 30, 2009. His legacy remains cherished by audiences across generations.

B Saroja Devi, who was born on January 7, 1938, was a multilingual actress who left an imprint not only in Kannada but also in Tamil, Telugu, and Hindi cinema. She appeared in over 200 films and is fondly remembered for her memorable roles in movies like Kittur Rani Chennamma. In Bollywood, her performance in Sasural with Rajendra Kumar is still remembered. She passed away on July 14, 2025.

The Karnataka Ratna award carries a 50-gram gold medal, a citation, a memento, and a shawl. Past recipients include Kuvempu, S Nijalingappa, scientist CNR Rao, cardiologist Dr Devi Shetty, musician Bhimsen Joshi, Shivakumara Swamiji of Siddaganga Mutt, writer De Javare Gowda, and philanthropist Veerendra Heggade.

Minister Patil also revealed that the cabinet passed a resolution urging the Centre to confer the Bharat Ratna on Rashtra Kavi Kuvempu.

This decision comes after senior actors, including Jayamala, Shruthi, and Malavika Avinash, met the Chief Minister earlier this week, requesting that the Karnataka Ratna be awarded to Vishnuvardhan and Saroja Devi in recognition of their unparalleled contributions to cinema.

The Cabinet also decided to recommend to the Union government to posthumously award Bharat Ratna to legendary Kannada poet and writer Kuvempu.

Arguably the most popular Kannada writer, Kuvempu was also the first Jnanapeetha award-winning Kannada writer. Known as Rasthrakavi, he penned the state anthem ‘Jaya Bharatha Jananiya Tanujathe.’ While renowned for his evocative poems on a range of topics, Kuvempu also wrote novels ‘Kanooru Heggadati’ and ‘Malegalalli Madumagalu,’ and an epic ‘Sri Ramayana Darshanam', for which he bagged the Jnanapeeth award.