Ramanuj Sharma (born 15 May 1976), popularly known as Anuj Sharma, is an Indian politician and film, stage and television personality in Chhattisgarhi cinema He was awarded

Padma Shri The Padma Shri (IAST: ''padma śrī'', lit. 'Lotus Honour'), also spelled Padma Shree, is the fourth-highest Indian honours system, civilian award of the Republic of India, after the Bharat Ratna, the Padma Vibhushan and the Padma Bhushan. In ...

, the fourth highest civilian award, by the

Government of India The Government of India (ISO 15919, ISO: Bhārata Sarakāra, legally the Union Government or Union of India or the Central Government) is the national authority of the Republic of India, located in South Asia, consisting of States and union t ...

in 2014, for his services in the field of arts. He is the first film personality from Chhattisgarh to receive the Padma Shri award. He is also an MLA from Dharsiwa Assembly constituency representing

Bharatiya Janata Party The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP; , ) is a political party in India and one of the two major List of political parties in India, Indian political parties alongside the Indian National Congress. BJP emerged out from Syama Prasad Mukherjee's ...

Biography

Sharma was born to Teken Lal Sharma and Dehuti Sharma at

Bhatapara Bhatapara is a city and a nagar palika (municipality) in the Baloda Bazar - Bhatapara district, Baloda Bazar-Bhatapara district of the state of Chhattisgarh, India. History During the British rule from 1854 to 1864, Baloda Bazar and Bhatapara w ...

Raipur Raipur ( ) is the capital city of the Indian state of Chhattisgarh. Raipur is also the administrative headquarters of Raipur district and Raipur division, and the largest city of the state. It was a part of Madhya Pradesh before the state of Chh ...

Chhattisgarh Chhattisgarh (; ) is a landlocked States and union territories of India, state in Central India. It is the List of states and union territories of India by area, ninth largest state by area, and with a population of roughly 30 million, the List ...

. He did his schooling at Bhatapara and later, secured a master's degree in history from the Pandit Ravishankar Shukla University, Raipur. He married Smita Sharma and they have two children. They reside at Labhandi, Raipur. Earlier he was a resident of Sant Kabir Nagar, Raipur.

Political career

In June 2023, Sharma joined the

and won the 2023 Chhattisgarh Legislative Assembly election from Dharsiwa Assembly constituency defeating Chhaya Verma of the Indian National Congress by a margin of 44,343 votes.

Film career

Sharma started acting and singing at the age of ten. After a brief stint as the marketing executive, he made his debut in the 2000 film, ''Mor Chhaihan Bhuiyan'', considered to be the first of the modern era in Chhattisgarhi film history, which was till then at a nascent stage. The first Chhattisgarhi film was made in 1965 and the second one in 1971. The film became a commercial success. The success of the debut film made him a star and he had eight releases a year and 4 silver jubilee hits, the only lead actor to do so in Chhattisgarhi films. Some of his movies like Maya, Mister Tetkuram and Mahu Diwana Tahu Diwani, were a big success and got him best actor award four times. The prolificacy of his acting career also returned two of his films being released on the same day. Sharma's films have been dubbed into many other languages such as Sambalpuri, Jharkhandi, Bundelkhandi, Gujarati, and

Bhojpuri Bhojpuri may refer to: * Bhojpuri language, an Indo-Aryan language of India and Nepal * Bhojpuri grammar, grammatical rules of the language * Bhojpuri nouns, nouns of the language * Bhojpuri people, people who speak the language * Bhojpuri region ...

. He has also acted in a number of Bhojpuri films. He has active presence on stage and television in various parts of central India. He is also associated with

UNICEF UNICEF ( ), originally the United Nations International Children's Emergency Fund, officially United Nations Children's Fund since 1953, is an agency of the United Nations responsible for providing Humanitarianism, humanitarian and Development a ...

for the campaigns in Chhattisgarh. He has also performed as radio jockey in the National FM channel and was the first Chhattisgarhi compere. He has compered around 125 television shows so far. He has also made advertisement and promotion films for the Chhattisgarh Tourism Board and for other commercial institutions as well. A Chhattisgarhi folk singer by practice, Sharma is reported to be at ease singing all styles of Chhattisgarhi folk songs. He has over 100 video albums, has sung over 200 film and folk songs, and has composed music for 10 audio albums. He also owns a music label called "Aaarug Music".

Filmography

* ''All films are in

Chhattisgarhi Chhattisgarhi () is an Indo-Aryan language spoken by approximately 16.25 million people from Chhattisgarh, Odisha, Madhya Pradesh and Maharashtra in India. It is the official language of Chhattisgarh. It is grouped within the Eastern Hindi lan ...

language unless otherwise noted''.

Discography

* ''All songs are in

language unless otherwise noted''.

Awards and recognitions

Anuj (Ramanuj) Sharma was honoured by the

by awarding him the

, in 2014, in recognition of his efforts to the cause of art. Anuj Sharma has also received many other awards such as: Film awards Other awards * Chhattisgarh Ratna Samman - Pandit Ravishankar Shukla University, Raipur - 2013 * Pratibha Samman - Chhattisgarh B. S. Central Committee - 2011 * Vipra Samman - Sarv Brahman Samaj - 2011 * Toy Award - JCI Raipur Metro - 2011 * Young Communicator Award - International School of Business and Media - 2010 * Young Communicator Award - Symmbiosis Institute of Media and Communication - 2009 * Honour - Tamil Nadu Hindi Sahitya Academy Anuj Sharma was listed by the

Times of India ''The Times of India'' (''TOI'') is an Indian English-language daily newspaper and digital news media owned and managed by the Times Group. It is the List of newspapers in India by circulation, third-largest newspaper in India by circulation an ...

among the ''Kings of the Provinces'' when they published a special report in connection with the ''100 years of Indian Cinema'' celebrations, placing him among the stalwarts of Indian cinema such as

M. G. Ramachandran Maruthur Gopalan Ramachandran (17 January 1917 – 24 December 1987), popularly known by his initialism M.G.R. and as Makkal Thilagam/Puratchi Thalaivar, was an Indian actor, politician, and philanthropist who served as the chief minister of ...

, N. T. Rama Rao and

Mohanlal Mohanlal Viswanathan (; born 21 May 1960), known mononymously as Mohanlal, is an Indian actor and filmmaker who predominantly works in Malayalam cinema, Malayalam cinema besides also having sporadically appeared in Tamil cinema, Tamil, Hin ...

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Sharma, Anuj 1976 births Living people Recipients of the Padma Shri in arts Indian male film actors Indian male singers Singers from Chhattisgarh Musicians from Chhattisgarh Chhattisgarhi-language singers People from Raipur, Chhattisgarh People from Chhattisgarh Indian male television actors Male actors from Chhattisgarh Pandit Ravishankar Shukla University alumni Chhattisgarh MLAs 2023–2028 Bharatiya Janata Party politicians from Chhattisgarh Film producers from Chhattisgarh Film directors from Chhattisgarh