Ram Vanji Sutar, a resident of Sector 19 in Noida, has had a sculpting career of more than 60 glorious years. This Padma Shree and Padma Bhushan recipient has now been selected for the prestigious 2016 Tagore Award by the Union Ministry of Culture.
The 93-year-old sculptor has designed the 522-ft-high Statue of Unity in Gujarat’s Narmada district, and it is to be inaugurated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on October 31.
Various statues sculpted by him have been placed in different cities and also in the Parliament.
Speaking to City Spidey, he said, “The PM liked my work. Later, I was assigned to design the world’s largest statue – the Statue of Unity. It’s a dream-come-true for me.”
Tagore Award was instituted by the Union government during the commemoration of the 150th birth anniversary of Rabindranath Tagore in 2011. The first award was conferred on sitar legend Ravi Shankar in 2012.
Sutar's studio in Sector 63