Soorya festival from Sept 21

Express News Service

First Published : 02 Sep 2010 01:15:36 AM IST

Last Updated : 02 Sep 2010 11:42:48 AM IST

THIRUVANATHAPURAM: The Soorya Festival, which holds the record for the longest arts and music festival, will kick off in the capital city on September 21. This year, the festival will last 111 days, Soorya director Soorya Krishnamoorthy said on Wednesday.

Curtains will go up for the marathon festival with a formal inauguration by Godrej managing director and Soorya India patron A Mahendra at the Tagore Theatre on September 21. ‘Atmakatha’ will be the inaugural film this year, and will be screened after the inauguration. The film festival at the Tagore Theatre will be on till September 30. It will feature 19 Malayalam films, including ‘Raamanam,’ ‘Paleri Manikyam - Oru Pathira Kolapathakathinte Katha,’ ‘Yugapurushan’ and ‘Sufi Paranja Katha.’

Alongside the film festival, a painting exhibition will open at the Tagore Theatre on September 22 featuring various artistes. It will be on till November 30.

The Dance and Music Festival will open at the Tagore Theatre on October 1 with a Carnatic vocal by K J Yesudas. Odissi by the Nrityagram, Bharatanatyam by Padma Subramaniam, Dr Gayatri and Mahati, Carnatic vocal by O S Thyagarajan and Kathak by Rajendra Gangani are the big draws.

This year’s Theatre Festival will feature the Tamil play ‘Vietnam Veedu’ by Y G Mahendra. This play, which has in the past featured stalwarts like Sivaji Ganeshan, is to be staged at the Model School Auditorium on October 17. The Theatre Festival will open at the Model School Auditorium on October 11 with ‘Parinayam’, written by M T Vasudevan Nair and directed by Soorya Krishnamoorthy. Between October 11 and October 20, ten plays will be staged, including ‘Avanavan Kadamba’ by Kavalam, ‘Makkalkkoottam’ by Pramod Payyannur and ‘Bommanahalliyile Kinnarayogi’ directed by Chandradasan.

‘’This year, we are starting two new events - a five-day Carnatic music festival ‘Sindhubhairavi’ and a Ghazal Mela, also lasting five days,’’ Krishnamoorthy told a news conference here on Wednesday. ‘Parampara’, which will be hosted at the Vyloppilli Samskrithi Bhavan from November 1 to November 10, will feature nine Bharatanatyam recitals and one Kuchipudi performance.

Chamber concert ‘Jalsa Ghar’ at the YMCA Auditorium will feature performances by Umbayi, Gayatri, Shahabaz Aman, Manjari, Meeta Pandit, Sagarika Pradhan and Pandit Ramesh Narayan, among others. Jalsa Ghar will be on from November 11 to November 20.

For the Adoor aficionados, this year the Soorya Festival offers a five-film treat. In ‘Meet the Master’, five of Adoor Gopalakrishnan’s films - ‘Swayamvaram,’ ‘Kadhapurushan,’ ‘Nizhalkuthu,’ ‘Nalupennungal’ and ‘Oru Pennum Randanum’ will be screened at the Kalabhavan from November 21 to November 25.

Rajkumar Hirani’s ‘3 Idiots,’ Mani Ratnam’s ‘Raavan’ and Ram Gopal Varma’s ‘Rann’ are among the films planned in ‘Indian Panorama’, which will begin at the Kalabhavan on November 21 and will be held till November 30.

Other programmes include Kathakali Festival at the Women’s College, poets’ meet, short film festival  and ‘Chiriyarangu’ at the Municipal Auditorium. Another big attraction is an Odissi Festival from January 5 to January 9.

The Soorya Festival will officially come to a close on January 10 with a stage show ‘Dwayam’ directed by Soorya Krishnamoorthy.

trivandrum@expressbuzz.com

Note Courtesy . The new Indian express Trivandrum