Pune: The 37th edition of Pune Festival will be held during Ganeshotsav, from Aug 27 to Sept 6, across the city. Organised by the Pune Festival Committee in partnership with citizens of Pune, Maharashtra Tourism Development Corporation (MTDC), and the Ministry of Tourism, Govt of India, the festival will unfold against the devotional backdrop of Ganeshotsav. Over 10 days, an array of cultural performances will be staged at Balgandharva Rangmandir, Shri Ganesh Kala Krida Rangmanch, Maharashtra Sahitya Parishad, and Savarkar Memorial Hall.The festival will be officially inaugurated on Aug 29 at 4.30 pm at Shri Ganesh Kala-Kreeda Rangmanch, Swargate. The inauguration will be led by Governor C. P. Radhakrishnan, with Union tourism and culture Minister Gajendrasinh Shekhawat, civil aviation minister Muralidhar Mohol, Maharashtra ministers Chandrakant Patil, Shambhuraj Desai, and Madhuri Misal in attendance. Politicians Supriya Sule, Medha Kulkarni, Shrirang Barne, Sunetra Pawar, Harshvardhan Sapkal, PMC commissioner Naval Kishore Ram, and MTDC’s Shama Pawar will be the special invitees, alongside foreign dignitaries.The ceremony will begin with a performance by clarinetist Tukaram Daithankar, Ganesh Vandana in Bharatanatyam by Arundhati Patwardhan’s troupe, and folk dance by Janaki Group. Students of Symbiosis institutes will present international forms of dance, with performances of mallakhamb, Sikkim’s maroni, Assam’s bihu, Nagaland’s war dance, and Arunachal’s festival dance. Artists from Kerala will perform a musical programme titled mile sur mera tumhara. A kathak-lavani jugalbandi by Payalvrinda Dance Academy closes the segment. Yogesh Deshpande and Sarita Mulchandani will host the programme.The cultural calendar that follows over the next few days is packed. The all-India mushaira on Aug 30 at Ganesh Kala-Kreeda Rangmanch will bring poets together from across the country. On Aug 31, Ashok Hande’s awara hoon will celebrate Bollywood actor Raj Kapoor’s career with the help of 125 performers. On Sept 1, Manisha Saathe’s divine confluence will blend Japanese taiko drumming, kathak, and Asian dance traditions.At Balgandharva Rangmandir, a Lavani special for women and dream girl, a musical homage to actress Hema Malini, will be held on Aug 28. On Aug 29, Hindi hasya kavi sammelan promises to leave audiences in splits. The voice of Pune festival and play, jis Lahore ne dekhya, o jamyai nai, will be staged on Aug 30. A bal sangeet mahotsav and Kerala mahotsav will be the highlights on Aug 31.Continuing through the week, Mukta Barve will play the lead role in theatrical recital priya bhai, ek kavita havi aahe to be staged on Sept 1, twins’ gathering and jyacha tyacha vitthal will be held on Sept 2, Marathi kavi sammelan and soneri-chanderi sangeetik mahfil will be held on Sept 3. Nritya jhankar, jugalbandis, and rotaryche indradhanu will be held on Sept 4; Mrs Pune Festival, Marathi play sangeet saubhadra, and sur tech chedita, a Marathi orchestra will be held on Sept 5.
