Pune: Pune Festival, a confluence of music, dance, drama, art, singing, instruments, sports and culture is celebrating its 27th year. The 27th Pune Festival, to be held during the Ganeshotsav from September 17 to September 27 will be inaugurated by Chief Minister Shri. Devendra Fadnavis at 4:30 PM on Friday, September 18 at Ganesh Kala Krida Rangmanch, Pune. Union Minister of State for Environment Shri. Prakash Javadekar, Maharashtra’s Food and Civil Supplies Minister and Pune’s Guardian Minister Shri. Girish Bapat, Minister of State for social welfare Mr. Dilip Kamble, Minister of State for Water Resources Mr. Vijay Shivtare and Ex. Minister Mr. Harshwardhan Patil will be Chief Guests at the occasion. Pune Festival’s patron and veteran danseuse actress Hema Malini, Maharaja Yaduvir Krishnadatta Chamraja Wadiyar of Mysore, Noted Industrialist Rahul Bajaj, Actor Anil Kapoor, Actress Bindu, Actress Poonam Dhillon, Managing Director of Maharashtra Tourism Development Corporation Parag Jain Nanutia, Mayor of Pune Dattatray Dhankawade and Dy. Mayor Aba Bagul will be the guest of the honor. The entire ceremony will be telecast live on Doordarshan.
Pune Festival is organized by Pune Festival committee, Citizens of Pune, Tourism department of Government of India and the Maharashtra Tourism Development Corporation. This is a big cultural event in the country celebrated continuously for 27 years and continuously for 10 consecutive days during the Ganesh festival started by Lokmanya Tilak. All programs in the Pune Festival are free for puneites.
Pune Festival’s patron, actress and danseuse Hema Malini has a special connection with the Pune Festival and she has presented the Ganesh Vandana / ballet 25 times during the 27 years of Pune Festival. This year also, she will present a dance ‘Shrikirshna Vandana’ based on devotion to Krishna along with her troupe during the inauguration ceremony.
‘Manacha Mujara – Ajay Atul’ – a program of Marathi and Hindi songs composed by Musician duo Ajay-Atul, ‘Comedichi Bullet Train’ – a hilarious show making buzz on Colors Marathi TV, ‘ Prema Tuza Rang Kasa’ a program based on famous love songs and All India Urdu Mushiara will be the special attractions this year. Beside these, various cultural programs like Ugawate Tare, Indradhanu, classical music, devotional music, Marathi poetry session, stand up comedy extravaganza, women festival, painting exhibition, Ms. Pune Festival competition, Lavani Mahotsav, Kerala Mahotsav, Marathi plays will take place in the Pune Festival.
As usual, various sports events & competitions will take place during the Pune Festival. The vintage car exhibition, Pune Festival Golf Club tournament, State Level Rollball competition, Malla Khamb and Wrestling competition will be added attractions in Pune Festival.
The programs during the Pune Festival this year will take place at Shri Ganesh Kala Krida Rangmanch, Balgandharva Rangmandir and art gallery, Yashwantrao Chavan Natyagruh, Pt. Bhimsen Joshi art gallery (Sahakarnagar), Mitramandal Sabhagruh, Poona Golf Club, Yerwada, Mahesh Vidyalay (Kothrud) and Mamasaheb Mohol wrestling complex, Katraj.
Colors Marathi will be the main sponsors of the Pune Festival this year.
The Ganesh idol of Pune Festival will be installed on Thursday, 17 September at 10 am in presence of actress Resham Tipnis, Neha Pendse and Sharvari Jemenis at Hotel Saras Nehru Stadium. Vedmurti Dhananjay Ghate Guruji will officiate the ceremony.
As is the tradition, achievers from various fields will be felicitated with ‘Pune Festival Award’ during the inauguration ceremony. This year, renowned musician Ajay-Atul, Dr. Uma Ganesh Natrajan and Actor Jackie Shroff will be felicitated with this honor. This year Pune Festival life time achievement award will be given to renowned actor Shashi Kapoor & Actor Prem Chopra in this function. Pune Festival Life time achievement award for Shashi Kapoor will be received by his son actor Kunal Kapoor.
The inauguration ceremony this year will also be spectacular as per the traditional and the inauguration ceremony this year will start with the sanai recital by Tukaram Daithankar. Dance program by danseuse and MP Hema Malini with her troupe based on the devotion of Krishna; Ganesh Vandana presented by the students of Kalavardhini with concept by Dr. Sucheta Bhide Chaphekar and choreography by Arundhati Patwardhan; demonstrations of malla khamb and Yoga by the 15 students each of Maharashtra Mandal; Fusion musical program having lavani and bhangra choreographed by Nikita Moghe and participation of 45 artists of Pune Festival including movie artists Neha Pendse, Resham Tipnis, Bhargavi Chirmule, Saurabh Gokhale & Pushkar Jog; ‘Jai Malhar and Gondhal Adishakticha’ the Devotional Maharashtra programme choreographed by Tejashri Adige and having participation of Shruti Marathe, Adinath Kothare, Prajakta Mali and Punyakar Upadhyay along with co artists and Lokmanya Tilak, the leader of peasants and savants, having darshan of Shri Ganesha accompanied by his colleagues will be special attractions of the inauguration ceremony. Mr. Sudhir Gadgil will be the Marathi comparer of the inauguration ceremony while Ms. Neelam will be English comparer. Dr. Satish Desai is the head of cultural programs of the inauguration ceremony.
After the inauguration, special cultural programs will take place for four days as Ganesh Kala Krida Rang Manch. ‘Manacha Mujara – Ajay- Atul’, “Prema Tuza Rang Kasa” and “Comedy Bullet Train” these three popular programmes will be presented by ‘Colours Marathi”.
‘Manacha Mujara – Ajay- Atul’ – a program of Marathi and Hindi songs composed by renowned musician duo Ajay-Atul will take place on Saturday, September 19 at 8:30 PM. Renowned Artist’s like Prajakata Mali, Sara Shravan, Sanskruti Balgude, Manasi Naik, Sonali Kulkarni, Ketki Palav, Mauresh Pem, Abhijeet Kelkar, Sanket Pathak, Atul Tondankar, Aadarsh Shinde, Rahul Saxena Anirudha Joshi, Priyanka Barve, Prasad Ook and Spruha Joshi will participate in this programme.
‘ Prema Tuza Rang Kasa’ – a program based on popular Marathi love songs will take place at 8:30 PM on Sunday, September 20, which will be performed by Siddharth Jadhav, Manasi Naik, Deepali Sayyed, Sanskruti Balgude, Ketaki Palaw, Mayuresh Pem, Sanket Pathak, Singer Jasraj Joshi and group. Santosh Juvekar and Mrunal Dusanis will comparer of this programme.
‘Comedichi Bullet Train’ – a hilarious show making buzz on Colors Marathi TV will take place at 8.30 PM on Monday, September 21. Artist like Pandharinath Kamble, Supriya Pathare, Anshuman Vichare, Vishakha Subhedar, Yogesh Kshirsath, Prajkta Hanamghar, Tejaswini Pandit and Sameer Chougule will participate in this.
The evergreen the All India Urdu Mushaira will take place on Tuesday, September 22 at 8:30 PM. Noted Urdu poets like Popular Mirathi, Dr. Salim Kaisar, Manzar Bhopali, Sagar Tripathi, Shams Ramzee, Dr. Nuzhat Anjum, Hasan Kazmi, Ana Dehlavi will participate in it. Vice Chancellor of Aligarh Muslim University Lt. Gen. Zamiruddin Shah will be the chief guest at the occasion. President of Maharashtra Cosmopolitan Education Society, Pune and convener of All India Urdu Mushaira Shri. P. A. Inamdar and president of The Deccan Muslim Institute, Pune Smt. Abeda Inamdar will organize it.
As usual, the Pune Festival is replete with the Marathi programs this year which include Marathi poetry session, stand up comedy extravaganza, Marathi plays, classical recital and dance, Lavani Mahotsav etc. Shri. Mohan Tillu is coordinator of these programs.
So as to give their own forum to the new and emerging artists, ‘ Ugawate Tare ’ program for children in the age group of 7 to 14 years and Indradhanu for those in age group of 15 to 25 years are held every year in Pune Festival. Shri. Ravindra Durve is coordinator for these programs. This year, the program Ugavate Tare will be held in two stages from 5 Pm to 8 PM on Sep. 19 and Sep. 20 at 9 am to 12 noon at Balgandharva Rangmandir and Indradhanu will be held between 5 pm to 8 pm on Sep. 21.
Like every year, Marathi poetry session will be held at 9:30 PM at Balgandharva Rangmandir on Thursday, September 24 which will be compered by noted poet Ramdas Phutane. Noted poets like Suresh Shinde, Sambhaji Bhagat, Arun Mhatre, Mahesh Keluskar, Tukaram Dhande, Bharat Daundkar, Kaustubh Athalye will participate in it. Hasyotsav Ekpatrincha, stand up comedy extravaganza organized by Hasaydan Foundation (Organizer – Makrand TIllu) will be held between 5 to 8 PM on Tuesday, September 22 at Yashwantrao Chavan Natyagruh. Noted artists like Dilip Halyal, Mrudula Moghe, Vishwas Patwardhan, Chaitali Bhandari, Manish Apte and Manjiri Dhamankar will participate in it. Beside these, Lavani Mahotsav organized by noted danseuse Maya Khutegaonkar and Swati Daswadkar along with their troupe will be held at 12 PM on Sunday, September 20 at Balgandharva Rangmandir. Renowned lavani artist Sangeeta Lakhe and Archana Jawalekar along with their troupe will perform on Tuesday 22 Sep. at 12.00 noon at Yashwantrao Chavan Natyagruh. On the same day at same venue at 05.00 pm a programme based on Marathi bhavgeet “Nava Shukra Tara” will be presented by Atul Arun Date.
This year also, there is feast of Marathi plays which include Marathi Drama “ Manatale Saare” written by Sanjay Dole and Directed by Amrut Samak presented by IPTA, Pune at Balgandharva Rangmandir at 9 PM on September 23. Short Drama “Chiutai Chiutai Dar Ughad” presented by Anubhav and “Khara Paus Kaun” a audio video dance short drama will be staged at Yashwantrao Chavan auditorium at 5 PM on September 24. A special Marathi Programme presented by Parag Mategaonkar and colleagues on songs by Mangeshkar family named “Paach Bote Amrutachi” will be held on September 23 at 5 PM at Yashwantrao Chavan Natyagruh.
The orchestra presented by noted singer Jitendra Bhuruk and co singers will be held at 5:00 PM on September 21 at Yashwantrao Chavan Natyagruh. They will present “Hits of Real Super Stars” songs composed on Cine artist Rajesh Khanna and Amitabh Bacchan. A classical recital presented by Kumar Gandharv Sangeet Academy and performed by singer Smt. Kalapini Komkali will be held at 5 PM on September 23 at Balgandharv Rang Mandir. “Trushna” a katthak dance program by noted danseuse Ranjana Phadke (Mumbai) and colleagues will be held at 5:00 PM on September 24 at Balgandharva Rangmandir followed by dance programme by Manisha Nrityalaya “Aawarat” at 6.30 pm. This programme is conceptualized by Nritya Guru Manisha Sathe.
Bharatnatyam by noted danseuse Vidyaravi (Bangalore) will perform on 19 Sep. at 5.00 pm at Yashwantrao Chavan Natyagruh, which be followed at 6.30 pm a special program “ Paus” based on classical, semi-classical and folk dances presented by Snehal Kalamkar and co artist of Snehalalit Kala Kendra.
The exhibition of photos from the competition held on the theme of Sarvajanic Ganesh Utsav will be held at Balgandharv Kaladalan on 18 & 19 September which will be inaugurated on18th Sep. at 10 am along with the prize distribution. This exhibition will be on for two days free of cost.
The Kerala Festival by Pune Malayali Federation will take place on Sunday, September 20 at 5.00 pm at Balgandharv Rang Mandir in which many Malayali artists from Pune district will present their art.
Ms. Pune Festival Competition will take place between 3 to 6 PM on Tuesday, September 22 at Ganesh Kala Krida Rangmanch, in which womens between 18 to 28 years age group will participate. In this personality pageant, points will be awarded based on walking, speaking, dressing, presence of mind, confidence and general knowledge. Supriya Tamhane has coordinated it. Mahila Mahotsav comprising of Cooking Competion, demonstration by Mothers Recipe, ukhane and mangalagauri games will be held on 23rd September between 10 am to 6 pm at Mitra Mandal Sabhagruh. Dance competition for the married women will take place between 12 AM to 6 PM on 25 September at Balgandharv Rang Mandir. Mrs. Anjali Wagale is coordinating it.
An exhibition of paintings done by women artists and the competition will be held between 22nd to 24th Sep. at Pt. Bhimsen Joshi Kaladalan, Sahakarnagar which will be inaugurated on 22nd Sep. at 04.00 pm at the hands of Smt. Vandana Chavan (MP). A group called “Aakruti” formed by women artist in Maharashtra. Many members from this group will participate in it. Approximately 100 works of art done by women from age group of 15 to 40 years and above 40 years in Amateur and Professional group will be the attraction of the event. Veteran artist Shri. Murali Lahoti and muralist Mrs. Sujata Dharap will be the judge for it and Nivedita Pratishthan President Adv. Anuradha Bharati has coordinated it.
As is every year, various sports events & competitions will take place in Pune Festival. This year, the vintage car exhibition will be held at Hotel Beverly Hills in Kondhwa from September18 to 22 and this exhibition will be open all day. It will include about 34 rare models like Austin (1934), Morris (1950), Hilman (1951),Fiat 1100 (1957), Dodge Kings Way (1957), Cheverolet Impala (1963) which was used by Smt. Indira Gandhi, different models of Mercedes benz cars between 1960 upto 2003, London Taxi (2011) etc. the Mercedes benz cars used by renowned actors Vinod Khanna & Amitabh Bachchan will also be in the exhibition. Also Lambretta (1961) and Rajdoot Bobby (1973) will also be the highlight of this exhibition . Subhash Sanas is coordinating this event.
Pune Festival Golf Club tournament is organized at 7:00 AM on Sunday 20 Sep. at Poona Golf Club, Yerwada and about 100 competitors will take part in it. Jaideep Patwardhan has coordinated it. The state level Rollball competition is organized at Mahesh Vidyalay (Kothrud) at 9 AM on Sunday, 20 September. 20 district teams are participating in it. Shri. Raju Dabhade has coordinated it on behalf of Maharashtra Rollball Association.
The gala wrestling competition to be held at late Mamasaheb Mohol wrestling complex, Katraj on September 19 and 20 will give joy of tradition wrestling sport of Maharashtra. About 100 wrestlers will participate in this event. Shri. Balasaheb Landge General Secretary of Maharashtra Olympic Association and general secretary of Maharashtra state Kustigir Parishad has coordinated it.
A special Mallakhamb competition will be held at Maharashtra Mandal (Tilak Road, Pune) at 19th & 20th Sept. in association with Maharashtra Mandal and Pune District Mallakhamb Association. The boys below the age group at 10, 12, 14 and 18 and also boys above eighteen years will participate. Also the girls below the age group of the 10, 12 and 16 will participate in this competition. About 200 participants will participate in this. This competition will be inaugurated on 19th Sep. at 04.00 pm at Maharashtra Mandal, Tilak Road. Abhijeet Bhosale, secretary of Pune District Mallakhamb association will co-ordinated this event.
Prasanna Gokhale is the convenor of the sports committee of Pune Festival. The donors and co- sponsors are Bajaj Group and Kohinoor Group. The associate sponsors are Ajinkya D.Y. Patil, NECC, Kalyani Group, B.G. Shirke, Bank of Maharashtra and Desai brothers.
Shri. Suresh Kalmadi is Chairman of Pune Festival and Krushnkant Kudale is the Chief Co-ordiantor.
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