Kannada and Culture Director K A Dayanand, who is also the deputy special officer of the Cultural sub-committee of the Dasara Executive Committee, said cultural programmes will be held at six venues across the city as part of the Dasara festivities from October 1.
After releasing the poster for the programmes organised by the sub-committee, he said, Jamboo Savarai and cultural programmes are the only two elements that have remained constant since the inception of the Dasara celebrations centuries ago. Thus cultural programmes are an integral part of the festivities that are a legacy from the erstwhile rulers — be it the Wadiyars, Vijayanagar kings, Hoysalas or the Kalyana Chalukyas.
He said, the programmes will be held in front of the Mysuru Palace, Jaganmohan Palace, Kalamandira, Veene Sheshanna Bhavan of Ganabharathi in Kuvempunagar, Dufferin Clock and Town Hall. While the programmes will be held at all the venues till October 10, they will end on October 9 at the Mysuru Palace.
Dayanand said, representation has been given for the local, state-level artistes and those from other states to perform during the Dasara. The artistes include children of civic workers (pourakarmikas) and physically challenged persons and also artistes of international fame. “The sub-committee has been sanctioned a budget for Rs 80 lakh. But, in view of making payments to the artistes adequately, the sub-committee needs, at least, Rs 1 crore. A proposal has been submitted to the government for additional funds,” he said.
The first programme will be a dance ballet ‘Jeeva Jala’, directed by Roopa Rajesh with music by Sunitha Chandrakumar, to mirror the theme for the year ‘Water Conservation’. Prominent among the artistes scheduled to perform are: theatre person B Jayashri, musicians Hariharan, Unnikrishnan, Muddu Mohan, Vinayaka Thoravi and S Shankar. Magic on wheels by Syed Sallauddin Pasha from Delhi is supposed to be a major attraction this year. The programmes will be a mix of several art forms to break the monotony, said Dayanand.
The cultural programmes will be launched by Chief Minister Siddaramaiah with the presentation of the Asthana Vidhwan award to an eminent artiste. “The name for the award of Asthana Vidhwan is expected to be notified by the state government in a couple of days,” he said.
Working president of the sub-committee Nirmala Matpathi, also deputy director of Rangayana, and member-secretary Channappa, also Assistant Director for Kannada and Culture department, were present.
Published 26 September 2016, 18:17 IST