Pune Festival, a confluence of dance, drama, art, singing, instruments and sports is celebrating its 30th year. Veteran actress and danseuse Hema Malini will inaugurate it on Friday, September 14 at Ganesh Kala Krida Manch.
Maharashtra’s Food and Civil Supplies Minister and Guardian Minister of Pune District Girish Bapat and State Tourism Minister Jay Kumar Rawal will be present as the chief guests at the occasion. Maharashtra’s Minister of State for Social Welfare Dilip Kamble, Minister of State for Water Resources Vijay Shivatare, Former Co-operatives Minister Harshvardhan Patil, Deputy Mayor of Pune Siddharth Dhende, Managing Director of Maharashtra Tourism Development Corporation Suhas Diwase will be present as the guests of honour.
The Pune Festival is organised jointly by Pune Festival Committee, citizens of Pune, Maharashtra Tourism Development Corporation and Government of India - Tourism Department.
Air Marshal I P Vipin (VM) Commandant, NDA will install the Ganesh idol with full rituals at Hotel Saras, near Nehru Stadium at 10 am on September 13. Metropolitan Commissioner and CEO of PMRDA Kiran Gite (IAS), actress Prajakta Mali and Mrs United Nations Shraddha Kakad will be present on this occasion.
This year, former Governor of Bihar Dr D Y Patil, former Governor of Sikkim Shrinivas Patil, BVG Group Chairman and Managing Director Hanmant Gaikwad and actor Vikram Gokhale will be felicitated for their outstanding achievements with the ‘Pune Festival Award’ during the inaugural ceremony.
The Sakhlipir Talim Rashtriya Maruti Mandir (Ganeshotsav Mandal) celebrating their centenary year, will also be honoured.
The opening ceremony of Pune Festival is also going to be a spectacular affair. It will start with shehenai by Tukaram Daithankar. Then renowned Kathak dancer Rujuta Soman and Bharatanatyam dancer Arundhati Patwardhan will present Ganesh Vandana with their co-artist.
This will be followed by demonstrations of Yoga postures by 15 boys and girls of the Maharashtra Mandal.
Bhagyashree Abhyankar, Sonali Nandurkar, Rushikesh Badwe and Hemant Valunjkar will present songs by renowned poet Ga Di Madgulkar, writer, singer-composer Sudhir Phadke and writer-humorist-actor-composer Pu La Deshpande to mark their birth centenary this year.
The ‘Povada Fusion’, which is presented by 18 female artists in special attire and invoking women power, will be an added attraction for the inauguration ceremony.
A dance performance ‘Festival of India’ will be presented. It will include Holi dance, Bhangra, Garba and Koli dance. ‘Tribute to Bollywood music legends’, a special show of dance and music, on the occasion of the birth centenary year of Hindi cinema’s renowned music directors — C Ramachandra, Naushad Ali and Jaidev, will also be presented by Prajakta Mali, Priya Marathe, Chetan Chavda and Mayuresh Pem along with about 25 artists.
The other events during Pune Festival to take place at Ganesh Kala Krida Rang Manch include Miss Pune Festival contest, ‘The Golden Era of Music’ presented by renowned singer Jitendra Bhuruk and co-artists, a meet of Hindi humorous poets and renowned singer Rani Verma’s ‘Jashn-e-Husna’.
The other cultural programmes of Pune Festival will be held at Bal Gandharva Rangmandir and Yashwantrao Chavan Natyagruha. They include V Anuradha Singh’s Kathak dance, Sukriti Dance Academy’s Kathak Ballet program ‘Shivtandav’, award-winning play by IPTA Pune — Shaniwar Wada Vikane Ahe, Arati Ankalikar-Tikekar’s ‘Survandana’, Dr Shashikala Ravi’s Kathak dance recital titled ‘Devi Parvati’, and ‘Hasyotsav Ekpatrincha’.
Bengali Association from Pune will present ‘Bengal Mahotsav’, a glimpse of Bengal culture and its different facets along with its iconic Durga Puja performed by 50-60 artists aged 2-78 years. ‘Marathi Kavi Sammelan’ will see some of the famous poets from Maharashtra present their poems.
‘Voice of Pune Festival’, a special competition will be held at Yashwantrao Chavan Natyagruh which will see talented singes fight it out for the crown.
Special programmes like ‘Ugawate Taare’ and ‘Indradhanu’ for upcoming child and young artists will feature this year too.
Celebrity chef Vishnu Manohar will present a recipe demonstration at Harshal Hall, Karve Road. Dance festival, painting competitions and exhibition are some other features of the
festival.
In sports, ‘Pune Festival Golf Tournament’, Mallakhamb competition for girls and boys, Roll Ball competition, ‘Dirt Track’ competition will be held.
For detailed schedule, visit www.punefestival.com
