Following the ceremony of Sangeet Natak Akademi Fellowship and Sangeet Natak Akademi Award 2013, presented by the President of India, Pranab Mukherjee, a festival of music, dance and drama is being presented by the fellows and awardees of the year. The festival started on 12 April at the Meghdoot Theatre Complex and is slated to end on 18 April.
The first day of the festival marked the performances of Thiruvizha Jayasankar playing carnatic instrumental music (Nadaswaram), while Mohan Singh Khangura sang Rabindra Sangeet. T.A.R. Nadirao and N Jeeva Rao too entertained the audience with folk music of Tamil Nadu. The performace was followed by an interaction with Meenakshi K – Ghatam maker, Sukanya Ramgopal and Sumana Chandrashekar. Trichy Sankaran played carnatic instrumental music (Mridangam) while Ritwik Sanyal’s sang hindustani vocals. D Sesha Chary and D Raghava Chary (Hyderabad Brothers) too sang the carnatic vocals. A play Virasat written by Mahesh Elkunchwar and directed by Anuradha Kapur was also staged on the occasion.
On 13 April, Lilavati M. Kavi brought the puppet show and Kanak Rele presented lecture-demonstration. Dhruba Jyoti Ghosh with Sarangi, Hashmat Ali Khan with tabla and Rajashree Shirke with her Kathak charmed the audience.
The third day(14 April), Kalamandalam M P S Namboodiri showcased his skills in Kathakali whereas Jamuna Krishnan performed Bharatnatyam. The following day, Bankim Sethi played Odissi music and Sangeeta Dash flattered the audience with Odissi dance.
The festival will feature two plays, Dara – a play in Urdu featuring Kusum Haidar, directed by Tripurari Sharma and Charpai – a Hindi play written by Rameshwar Prem, today. On 17 April, Saari Raat– hindi translation of Badal Sircar’s Bangla play Sara Ratir andValarkalai (The River Flows) – a multilingual (Tamil, English and Hindi) play written and directed by Prasanna Ramaswamy will also be presented.
The last day of the festival will witness Suring (Dynamite) – a play in Konkani written by Pundalik N. Naik and Gaddi Charan di Kaahal Bari si – a play in Punjabi directed by Kewal Dhaliwal.