Etawah saw a multitude of Bollywood stars descend on Thursday for the grand finale of the 17th annual Ranvir Singh Memorial Saifai Festival. With stars like Hrithik Roshan, Parineeti Chopra, Jacqueline Fernandez, Sushant Singh Rajput, Vaani Kapoor and Richa Chaddha present, nine chartered aircrafts were pressed into service.
Most Yadav’s from the Samajawadi Party were in attendance — from Mulayam Singh Yadav to his son Akhilesh Yadav and Badaun MP Dharmendra Yadav along with soon-to-be married Mainpuri MP Tej Pratap Singh Yadav.
Arijit Singh kicked off proceedings with a rendition of ‘Tum Hi Ho’ from Aashiqui 2, sending the crowd into a frenzy. Boman Irani and Huma Quershi kept the audience in splits with their compèring. The Saifai Festival is the biggest rural show in Uttar Pradesh, with nearly 3 lakh people in attendance each year. While the SP usually organises the festival, when they are not in power the state government helps in the organisation.
Apart from film stars, the fest also saw the participation of Sudarshan Pattnaik, the world famous sand sculptor. A rural cricket league was formed to encourage budding talent.