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Pune Festival: A confluence of art, culture and music
The 31st Pune Festival will be held in the city from September 2-12
In its 31st year, Pune Festival has been entertaining Punekars with events of music, dance, drama, art, singing, instruments, sports and culture. This year, Sharad Pawar, Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) chief, will inaugurate the event at Ganesh Kala Krida Rangmanch on September 6.
Jaykumar Rawal, tourism minister of Maharashtra; Girish Bapat, member of Parliament (MP); Amol Kolhe , Shirur MP; Harshvardhan Patil, Indian National Congress leader; Urmila Matondkar, actor; Abhimanyu Kale, managing director of Maharashtra Tourism Development Corporation; Mukta Tilak, Pune mayor and Dr Siddharth Dhende, deputy mayor, Pune will also be present.
The Pune Festival is organised jointly by the Pune Festival committee, Maharashtra Tourism Development Corporation and department of tourism, government of India.
Hema Malini will perform her ballet ‘Ganga’ on September 8 at 8pm. The installation of Pune Festival’s Ganesha will take place at 10 am on September 2 at Hotel Saras by Pune municipal commissioner Saurabh Rao.
‘Lifetime Achievement Award’ and ‘Pune Festival Award’ will be presented during the inauguration ceremony. This year, industrialist Rahul Bajaj and actor Prem Chopra will be honoured with the Lifetime Achievement Award. Senior actors Subodh Bhave and Prashant Damle; Milind Joshi, secretary, Maharashtra Sahitya Parishad; Usha Kakade, entrepreneur and body builder Sangram Chougule will be honoured with the Pune Festival Award.
Against the background of flood situation in Maharashtra, ₹2 Lakh will be given by Pune Festival to CM Relief Fund. Every year, a Sarvajanik Ganeshotsav Mandal in Pune celebrating their centenary year is felicitated at the inauguration function of Pune Festival. This year Kasturi Chowk Mitra Mandal and Nimbalkar Talim Ganeshotsav Mandal will be honoured.
“I am happy to bring back the festival to Punekars. I am glad that we are felicitating industrialist Rahul Bajaj and veteran actor Prem Chopra. They have individually changed the landscape of their industries and we are very proud of their contributions in their respective fields,” said Suresh Kalmadi, founder, Pune Festival
The inauguration will kick-off with a sanai recital by Tukaram Daithankar. It will be followed by the collective conch blowing by ‘Panchjanya Shankhnaad’. After this, artist Nandini Gujar will perform Ganesh Vandana. Kathak dancer Tejaswini Sathe and Bharatanatyam dancer Arundhati Patwardhan, along with 12 co-artists, will present Ganesh Vandana, a fusion of Kathak and Bharatanatyam based on the Sanskrit verse ‘Ganesh Pancharatnam - Muda Karat Modakam’. This will be followed by a Bollywood Ganesh Pooja. Thereafter, ‘Japanese Dancicle Taiko’ will be performed by 11 Indian disciples of Guru Pandita Manisha Sathe with kathak.
Besides these programmes, various cultural programmes have been organised under the Pune Festival at Bal Gandharva Rangmandir and Kala Dalan, Yashwantrao Chavan Natyagruh and Sankalp Hall, Navi peth in which Mahila Mahotsav, Ugawate Tare and Indradhanu, Kirtan festival and other cultural events will be prominent.
Events for women
Mahila Mahotsav: Like every year, many events and competitions have been organised under the Mahila Mahotsav to promote artistic qualities of women.
Miss Pune festival
Date: September 4, 3.30 pm to 7.30 pm at Yashwantrao Chavan Natyagruh
In this, 150 young women have participated and 20 women will be selected for the finals. Three winners will be selected in the final. Jui Suhas will be the grooming mentor and fashion choreographer.
Cooking competition
Date: September 4, 10 am to 4 pm at Sankalp Hall, Navi peth
For this competition, a spicy delicacy has to be prepared from home and dessert should be prepared at the competition venue. At least 250 people have participated in the event. Veteran actress Asha Kale will be the chief guest and she will demonstrate some recipes too.
Dance competition for women
Date: September 8, 12.30 pm to 6 pm at Yashwantrao Chavan Natyagruh
The competition will include solo dance competitions in the age group of 20 to 35 years and 36 to 50 years and group dance competitions in the age group of 20 to 50 years. Prizes will be awarded to the first three winners in each of the three age groups.
Lavani for women
Date: September 10, 12.30 pm to 3 pm at Balgandharva Rang Mandir
‘Tumchyasathi Kaay Pan’ a programme by Yogesh Deshmukh will be presented. The group has won the Lavani reality show on Mi Marathi channel.
Painting competition
Date: September 7 to 9, 10 am to 8.30 pm at Bal Gandharva Kaladalan
In this, 101 women artists have participated and 130 paintings will be displayed.
Kerala Mahotsav
Date: September 8, 12.30 pm at Balgandharva Rang Mandir
Local Malayalam artists of Pune Malayali Federation will present traditional dance forms, including Bharatnatyam, Kathakali, Mohiniattam, Margamkali and Vallamkali.
Events at Balgandharva Rang Mandir
Date: September 3
What: Amoli Thatte and co-artists will perform the Katthak dance from 5 pm to 6.30 pm, while Shashikala Ravi and co-artists will present ‘Ramayan’ ballet from 6.30 pm to 8 pm
Date: September 4
What: The Kirtan Festival will be held from 5 pm to 8 pm
Date: September 7
What: A Marathi poetry session will be held at 9.30 pm. Various poets from Mumbai, Pune and other places will participate in the event.
Date: September 9
What: Marathi drama ‘Suryachi Pillay’ will be staged from 5 pm to 8 pm. Veteran artist like Avinash Ogale, Leena Gogate and Shrikant Bhide will perform.
Date: September 10
What: ‘Hasyotsav Ekpatrincha’ will take place from 5 pm to 8 pm.
Date: September 11
What: Classical and semi- classical recital by Pandit Upendra Bhat will take place from 5pm to 6.30 pm. Jaya Jog and Neelima Radkar will perform Surel Samwad, the jugalbandi of violin and santoor from 6.30 pm to 8 pm.
What: Bollywood Hungama, a programme of old and new film songs, will be presented at 9.30 pm. Amol Parve, Pranali Kale and Kalyani Deshpande will be the singers.
