Ekta Cultural Academy had hosted their Cultural festival at the Sahita Sangha Mandir, Girgaon recently. On this occasion, various competitions were conducted for different events like Acting, Singing, Dance, Poetry recitation & Drawing. But, the final ceremony was to honour veteran actress Uma Bhende and her film maker husband Prakash Bhende with life time achievement Ekta Award, for their contribution to the field of Marathi entertainment industry. The prestigious award was presented to them by veteran Drama Critic Raja karale.

Speaking on the occasion, Ms. Uma turned emotional while thanking her co stars Kashinath Ghanekar , Chandrakant, Suryakant, Ramesh Deo and reputed directors like Bhalji Pendharkar, Raja Paranjape and Raj Dutt, with whom she got an opportunity to work with, during her good old days. “I shall continue to offer my services to acting in future too,” she concluded.
Many other artistes like Anil Gawas, Deepak Parab, Mayur Vaidya, Nilambari Khamkar, Ashok Savane, Yohgiraj Bagul, Adhikrao Pol, Milind Jagtap, Mayur Dholam, Praful gamre, Bhaarat Jadhav and Suresh kamble were also felicitated by Prakash Bhende for their contribution to their respective field. Bhagwan Nile, Jayant Pawar, Ashok Bendkhale and Ramesh Godse presented the prizes to winners of different competitions.