Journalism of Courage
The third day of the 25th edition of Pune Festival saw music legends Pandit Jasraj,Pandit Hariprasad Chaurasia,Selva Ganesh and others come together to perform Panchtatva,a musical act invoking the five elements of nature and life.
Earlier in the day,the Mahila Mahotsav saw several women compete in various dance forms as diverse as classical to remix,while the national roll ball competition came to a close with both Maharashtra boys and girls teams securing first place. Day Three also saw the Kerala Mahotsav,celebrating Malayali culture with traditional songs,drama and dance.
The second day of the festival (September 14) had started with the inauguration of the Silver Frame of Pune Festival,a photo exhibition tracing the last 24 years of the festival by photographer Santosh Poddar. After two days at the Mahanagar Palika Art Gallery,the exhibition will be shifted to Balgandharva Art Gallery on September 16 and 17.
The All India Urdu Mushaira was another highlight of Day Two where veteran shairs (urdu poets) Manzar Bhopali,Iqbal Ashar,Mumtaz Peerbhoy,Bashar Nawaz,Nawaaz Beobandi,Vijay Tiwari and Abhina Itrat touched upon social issues and current affairs. They also made the audience chuckle with the humour in their poetry.
A range of events were organised at Yashwantrao Chavan Auditorium on the second day,starting with a food festival. This was followed by a Lavani performance titled Madmast Apsara by dancers Radhika Patil,Sadhna Punekar,Saili Kelkar and Namrata Mahamolkar among others. They performed on popular songs such as Khandera Rayachya Lagnala,Bugadi Mazhi,Lallati Bhandar and others.
The next event was contemporary Kathak performance by Canada-based dancer Anjali Patil and a concert titled Sound of Southern India by Nandini Rao Gujar and Group who performed Carnatic classical form of devotional music.
