Art director Thota Tharani has been hpnored with the French government’s Chevalier rank title of The Order of Arts and Letters, or Ordre des Arts et des Lettres for this year

¨     Art director Thota Tharani has been hpnored with the French government’s Chevalier rank title of The Order of Arts and Letters, or Ordre des Arts et des Lettres for this year.

¨     Several Indian artists have previously been honored with the Chevalier.

¨     They include Sivaji Ganesan, Balamuralikrishna, Kamal Haasan, Aishwarya Rai Bachchan, and Kalki Koechlin.

¨     Thota Tharani is the sixth Indian film personality to join list of Indian artists honored with the Chevalier.

¨     Chevalier rank title comes after Commandeur and Officier, in the Order of Arts and Letters. It is the third of three ranks.

¨     Mrinal Sen, Sharmila Tagore, and Soumitra Chatterjee are the only three Indian film personalities with the Commandeur title.

¨     Only Indian film personality to be honored with the Officier rank is Shah Rukh Khan.

¨     Thota Tharani is known for his work in Telugu, Tamil, Malayalam and Hindi cinema. He was awarded Padma Shri in 2001.

¨     Chevalier rank title of The Order of Arts and Letters is given to individuals making exceptional contributions in arts, literature, cinema, and culture.