Press Release 31/ 08/2019

Veteran leader Sharad Pawar to Inaugurate 31st Pune Festival on September 6th

Pune Festival a confluence of music, dance, drama, art, singing, instruments, sports and culture is celebrating its 31st year. It will be inaugurated at 4:30 pm on Friday, September 6th at Ganesh Kala Krida Ragmanch by veteran Leader Sharad Pawar. Tourism Minister of Maharashtra Jaykumar Rawal, Girish Bapat (MP), Amol Kolhe (MP), Ex Minister Harshwardhan Patil, Actress Urmila Matondkar, Managing Director of Maharashtra Tourism Development Corporation Abhimanyu Kale, Pune’s Mayor Mukta Tilak, and Deputy Mayor Dr. Siddharth Dhende will be present as the guest of honour on the occasion. This year in Pune Festival there will be raft of diverse events. Danseuse actress Hema Malini's Ganga Ballet, All India Urdu Mushaira, Hindi humorous poetry convention, Marathi Hasya Kavi Sammelan, Mahila Mahotsav comprising Miss Pune Festival and Various competitions of dance, painting and cooking, Lavani for women, Keral Matosav, Kirtan Mahotsav, Uagawate Tare and Indradhanu, Marathi Drama, Musical Instrument, classical vocal and dances, Hindi Marathi songs program and various sports competitions will be the spectacular highlight of Pune Festival. Pune Festival’s patron, actress and danseuse Hema Malini presents her each ballet in Pune Festival. During the 30 years of the Pune Festival, she has presented her new ballet or Ganesh Vandana 27 times. This time, Hema Malini will present her ballet 'Ganga' at 8 pm on Sunday, September 8th. The Pune Festival is organized jointly by the Pune Festival Committee, Puneite citizens, Maharashtra Tourism Development Corporation and Department of Tourism, Government of India. The installation of Pune Festival’s Ganesha will take place at 10 am on September 2nd at Hotel Saras, Nehru Stadium at the hands of dy VC of SPU Dr. NS Umarani. Actress Girija Prabhu, Actress Manasi Musale, Actress Aayali Ghiya and FBB Miss India Campus Princess 2018 winner Apoorva Chavhan will be present on the occasion. Vedmurti Dhananjay Ghate Guruji will officiate the ceremony. The achievers from various fields are felicitated with 'Lifetime Achievement Award' and 'Pune Festival Award' during the Inauguration ceremony. This year, veteran Industrialist Rahul Bajaj and veteran Film Actor Prem Chopra will be honoured with the Lifetime Achievement Award. Moreover, senior Actor Subodh Bhave, Drama Actor Prashant Damle, Secretary of Maharashtra Sahitya Parishad Milind Joshi, Women Entrepreneur Usha Kakade and Body Builder Sangram Chougule will be honoured with the Pune Festival Award. On the background of flood situation in Maharashtra, Rs. 2 Lakhs will be given by Pune Festival to CM Relief Fund. Every year the Sarvajanik Ganeshotsav Mandal in Pune celebrating their centenary year is felicitated at Inauguration function of Pune Festival. This year Kasturi Chawk Mitra Mandal and Nimbalkar Talim Ganeshotsav Mandal will be honored at the Inauguration Function. The Inauguration ceremony this year will start with the Sanai recital by Tukaram Daithankar. It will be followed by the collective conch blowing by the 20 young men and women of ‘Panchjanya Shankhnaad’ clad in Salwar, Guru Shirt and Puneri Pagadi. Santosh Potdar has organized this. After this, Nandini Gujar will perform Ganesh Vandana. Kathak dancer Tejaswini Sathe and Bharatanatyam dancer Arundhati Patwardhan, along with 12 co-artists, will present Ganesh Vandana, a fusion of Kathak and Bharatanatyam based on the Sanskrit verse 'Ganesh Pancharatnam - Muda karat Modakam'. Amod Kulkarni has arranged the music for the same. This will be followed by Bollywood Ganesh Pooja, a special dance presentation worshipping Shri Ganesha, by the ‘Sidhaksha Production’ of Siddhi Potdar and Akshay Gupta based on great songs and mantras 'Jai Dev Jai Dev Shri Ganaraya, Lambodhara tu Vinayaka, Sukhkarta Dukhharta, Sangto Naman and Hare Rama Hare Rama’. This will comprise of 18 boys and girls artistes and Sidhi Potdar has choreographed it. Thereafter ‘Japanese Dancicle Tyko’ will be performed by 11 Indian disciples of Guru Pandita Manisha Sathe with Kathak. 25 - 30 boys and girls students of renowned BKS Iyengar Institute will perform the collective Yogasanas. Amrita Godse has composed music for the same while Iyengar Guruji's granddaughter Abhijata Iyengar and disciple and yoga teacher Raya has coordinated it. Krishnakant Kudale, who served as the Chief Coordinator of the Pune Festival for 30 years since the inception of the Pune Festival, passed away last year. A film offering tribute to him will be shown at the occasion. It is produced by Subhash Surve. A program of dance and music 'Aapla Keral' showcasing the rich cultural traditions of Kerala in form of Kathakali, Bharatnatyam, Mohiniatyam, Thiruvathirkali, Kuchipudi and other various dance forms will be performed by 40 girls and boys artist in traditional costumes. Rajan Nair, President of Pune Malyali Federation has organized this. The Inauguration ceremony will culminate with the fusion dance of Lavani and Ghumar in which cine stars Teja Devkar, Sanskriti Balgude, Bhargavi Chirmule, Manasi Musale, Girija Prabhu and Vaishnavi Patil are participating in it. They will be joined by 30 - 40 artists of Pune Festival. Nikita Moghe of Payal Vrund has choreographed the same. Sudhir Gadgil will be the Marathi compeer of the Inauguration ceremony while Durriya Shifchandler will be English compeer. The opening ceremony will be followed by the All India Urdu Mushaira at 9:30 pm at Ganesh Kala Krida Rangmanch. The famous Urdu poets such as Popular Meeruthi (Meeruth), Manzar Bhopali (Bhopal), Iqbal Ashhar (Delhi), Riyaz Sagar (Muzaffar Nagar), Afroz Alam (Dubai), Atul Ajnabi (Gawalior), Shahid Adeeli (Hydreabad), Shaista Sana (Kanpur), Anjali Ada (Kashmir), Rehana Shaheen (Aligarh), Dr. Mehtab Alam (Bhopal) Sharf Nanparvi (Delhi) are participating in it. Former Minister of Textiles and Minorities Development of Maharashtra Mohammed Naseem Arif Khan will be the Chief Guest for the same. 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 have coordinated it. The Hindi humorous poetry convention has been organized at 8 pm on Saturday, September 7th at Shri Ganesh Kala Krida Rangmanch. Renowned poet Subhash Kabra will compeer the program in which Colonel Dr. V P. Singh from Pune, a president’s medal winner who has organized many programs for the soldiers, TV and radio star poet Mahesh Dubey from Mumbai, poet Ashok Sundrani of Ratlam who has participated in more than 1000 humorous poet conventions, Rajendra Malviya of Itarsi who is famous as ‘Alasi’ and Padmini Sharma of Delhi who has earned fame in lyrical and gazals will be participating in it. Former vice- president and member of the Khadki Cantonment Board Manish Anand, member Pooja Anand and former president of Pune Municipal Education Board Sangeeta Tiwari have organized this. Pune Festival’s patron, actress and danseuse Hema Malini presents her each new ballet in Pune Festival. During the 30 years of the Pune Festival, she has presented her ballet or Ganesh Vandana 27 times. This time, Hema Malini will present her ballet 'Ganga' at 8 pm on Sunday, September 8th. The music is by Padmashree Ravindra Jain, Ashit Desai and Alap Desai while the choreography is done by Bhushan Lankandri. The costume is by Neeta Lulla, research by Ram Govind, dialogues and song by Padmashree Ravindra Jain and Shekhar Awasthi. Suresh Wadkar, Kavita Krishnamurti, Shankar Mahadevan, Mika Singh, Rekha Rao, Hema Desai and Alap Desai are the playback singers for the program. Besides these programs, various cultural programs have been organized under the Pune Festival at Bal Gandharva Rangmandir and Kala Dalan, Yashwantrao Chavan Natyagruh and Sankalp Hall, Navi Peth in which Mahila Mahotsav, Ugawate Tare and Indradhanu, Kirtan festival and other cultural events will be prominent. Mahila Mahotsav Like every year, many events and competitions have been organized under the Mahila Mahotsav to promote the artistic qualities of women. • Miss Pune Festival - A special attraction of women, will take place from 3.30 pm to 7.30 pm on September 4th at Yashwantrao Chavan Natyagruh. In this, 150 young women have participated and 20 women will be selected for the final and from which the final 3 winners will be selected. Jui Suhas will be grooming Mentor and fashion choreographer while Supriya Tamhane has organized it on behalf of the Pune Festival. • Cooking Competition - Like every year, the cooking competition has been organized at 10 am to 4 pm on Wednesday, September 4th at Sankalp Hall, Navi Peth. The participants have to bring forgotten spicy items prepared from home while sweet recipe is to be prepared at the spot. More than 250 women have participated in this and the winners will be given attractive prizes. There will be demonstrations as well at the occasion. Veteran Actress Asha Kale will be the chief Guest on this occasion and she will demonstrate some recipes too. Anjali Wagale, Rachna Patil, Kishore Sarpotdar and Chef Sarvesh Jadhav have coordinated this for the Poona Guest House, Austin 40 Café and Eat Out at Tapari. • Mangalagauri Games - Mangalagauri Games will be showcase on this occasion from 4 pm to 5 pm at the same spot after cooking competitions. • Dance competition for Women - The dance competition for women has been organized on Sunday, September 8th at 12.30 pm to 6 pm at Yashwantrao Chavan Natyagruh. These include solo dance competitions in the age group of 20 to 35 years and 36 to 50 years and group dance competitions in the age group of 20 to 50 years. Prizes will be awarded to the first three winners in each of the three age groups. Sanyogita Kudale and Deepali Pandhare have coordinated this for Pune Festival. • Lavani for Women – Lavani program has been organised for only women viewers from 12.30 pm to 3 pm on Tuesday, September 10th at Balgandharva Rang Mandir. ‘Tumchyasathi Kaay Pan’ of Yogesh Deshmukh will be the program presented by ‘Shivratna Production’ and produced by ‘Balaji’. This is the winner group in the Lavani reality show on Mi Marathi channel and it has won prize for consecutively 13 years at Akluj Lavani festival. Sanyogita Kudale and Deepali Pandhare have coordinated this for Pune Festival. • Painting competition for Women – The painting competition for women by ‘Akruti’ Group of women under the ‘Nivedita Pratishthan’ has been organized like every year this year also. In this, 101 women artists have participated while their total 130 paintings will be displayed. This painting exhibit will be open to all at Bal Gandharva Kaladalan from 10 am to 8.30 pm on September 7th, 8th and 9th. It will be inaugurated on Saturday, September 7th at 11 am. Prizes will be given in various groups as per the decision of the judges as well as demonstrations will be staged. Anuradha Bharti has organized it for the Pune Festival. • Keral Mahotsav - Every year a dazzling program of 'Keral Mahotsav' is celebrated on behalf of Keral residents of Pune city and district. This year on Sunday, September 8th from 5 pm to 12.3o pm at Balgandharva Rang Mandir local Malyalam boys and girls artists of Pune Malyali Federation will present traditional dance in form of Bharatnatyam, Kathakali, Mohiniatyam, Margamkali, Vallamkali and other ethnic dance forms in their traditional costumes. In this, artists displaying the unity of all religions like Hindu, Muslim and Christian will bring special joy to the audience. This program is organised by President of Pune Malyali Federation Rajan Nair. Ugawate Tare and Indardhanu Every year, Ugawate Tare and Indardhanu events are organized in the Pune Festival for upcoming and rising artists. Ugawate Tare is organized for child actors in the age group of 7 to 14 years while Indradhanu is organized for the age group of 15 to 25 years. This year, about 300 artists have participated in Ugawate Tare while more than 100 have participated in Indardhanu. The Indardhanu event will be held at Balgandharva Rang Mandir on Thursday, September 5th from 5 pm to 8 pm while Ugawate Tare will be held at Balgandharva Rang Mandir from 5 pm to 8 pm on Saturday, September 7th. Ugawate Tare part 2 and 3 will be held from 12.30 pm to 3.30 pm on September 10th and 11th at Yashwantrao Chavan Natyagruh. Ravindra Durve has coordinated it for the Pune Festival. Other events in the Balgandharva Rangmandir • Amoli Thatte and co-artists will perform the Katthak dance from 5 pm to 6.30 pm on Tuesday, September 3rd while Shashikala Ravi and co-artists will present ‘Ramayan’ ballet from 6.30 pm to 8 pm. • The Kirtan Festival will be held from 5 pm to 8 pm on Wednesday, September 4th and it is organized by Nivedita Mehendale. • An evergreen Marathi poetry session will be held with the participation of renowned poets and poetess from Maharashtra at 9.30 pm on Saturday, September 7th. Veteran humorous poet Ramdas Futane will be compeer the program. Arun Mhatre (Mumbai), Mahesh Kelujkar (Mumbai), Nitin Deshmukh (Amravati), Suresh Shinde (Mangalvedha), Bharat Lonkar (Neemgao Mhalunge), Tukaram Dhande (Igatpuri), Narayan Puri (Nanded), Ramjan Mulla (Sangali), Kaustubh Athale (Ratnagiri), Banda Joshi (Pune), Anil Dixit (Pune), Ashok Thorat (Pune), Mrunal Kanetkar (Pune) and Anjali Kulkarni (Pune) will participate in it. • The blockbuster Marathi drama ‘Suryachi Pillay’ will be staged from 5 pm to 8 pm on Monday, September 9th which is written by Vasantrao Kanetkar and directed by Avinash Ogale. Veteran artist like Avinash Ogale, Leena Gogate, Shrikant Bhide and others will perform in it. • ‘Hasyotsav Ekpatrincha’, presented by Hasaydan Foundation will take place from 5 pm to 8 pm on Tuesday, September 10th. This is organized by Makrand Tilloo. Makarand Tilloo, Dilip Halyad, Viswas Patwardhan and other artists will participate in this. • Pt. Upendra Bhat will present classical and semi- classical recital from 5 pm to 6.30 pm on Wednesday, September 11th. Jaya Jog and Neelima Radkar will perform Surel Samwad, the jugalbandi of violin and santoor from 6.30 pm to 8 pm. • Bollywood Hungama, a program of old and new film songs, will be presented at 9.30 pm on September 11th and Amol Parve, Pranali Kale and Kalyani Deshpande will be the singers. The concept and narration of the program is by Swapnil Raste. Other events at Yashwantrao Chavan Natyagruh • ‘Asha Tai – Tum jiyo hazaro saal’, a program of songs based on the theme of Ganeshotsav through all religions will be presented at 7 pm on Sunday, September 8th on the occasion of Asha Bhosle's birthday. Prof. Ravindra Shalu and Eleven Marathi female singers - Aarti Athale, Manisha Latad, Kalyani Deshpande, Geetanjali Jedhe, Snehal Apte Bhide, Ketaki Deshpande, Revathi Supekar, Bhagyashree Dumbre Bhamre, Radhika Atre, Krisha Chitnis and Mrunal Randhir and four compeer Prajakta Mandke, Shilpa Deshpande, Dr. Manasi Arakadi and Vidya Nitin are participating in this program. Veteran cine artist Asha Kale will be the chief guest. Female disciples of 'Nrutyapooja' Sanstha will perform dances in form of Bharatnatyam on the popular songs sung by Asha Bhosale. It is conceptualised by Kishore Sarpotdar while Vedamurthy Moreshwar Ghaisas Guruji, Bishop Francis DeBretto of Pune and Samuddin Tamboli will be the guests. The program presented by ‘Swachhand’ has been organised by Poona Guest House. • ‘Surel Sandhya’, an audio visual show at the occasion of birth centenary year of Dr. Vasantrao Deshpande, Bharat Ratna Pandit Ravi Shankar, senior singer music composer Hemant Kumar, actor Pran, Sitara Devi, Bulo C Rani, Bharat Bhushan and singer Manna De has been organised from 5 pm to 8 pm on Monday, September 9th. Film critic Sulbha Teranikar, Vandana Kulkarni and Usman Shaikh of Beyond Entertainment have organised this. • A grand music competition, Voice of Pune Festival has been organised from 5 pm to 8 pm on Tuesday, September 10th by Nivedita Pratishthan. The primary rounds for this will take place in VP Heights, Narhe on August 31st and on 1st September at Azam Campus. Various prizes will be given in the men and women categories and Anuradha Bharati has organized this event for the Pune Festival. • The 'Mangeshkar Maestro', a program based on five illustrious offspring, will be presented by Dr. Devika Damle, Dr. Mohika Damle and Chaitanya Kulkarni from 5 pm to 8 pm on Wednesday, September 11th and concept, production, script and narration for the same is by Gauri Damle. Sports Competitions in Pune Festival Various sports competitions are organized in Pune Festival like each year. Prasanna Gokhale of Pune Festival is working as the coordinator of all sports events. • Pune Festival Golf Cup Tournament will be held at 6.30 am on Saturday, September 7th at Pune Golf Course, Yerawada. More than 100 senior officials are participating in this. There will be a tournament of 18 holes in handicap category. The result of the tournament will be declared in afternoon and prizes will be distributed. Jaideep Patwardhan has organized this for the Pune Festival. • The Mallakhamba competition is being organized at Maharashtra Mandal Tilak Road under the Pune Festival at 10 am on Saturday, September 7th and Sunday, September 8th. Maharashtra State Mallakhamb Association has organized this. The Mallakhamba competition will be held on the buried pillar and 250 children in the age group of 8 to 15 years have participated in it. The prize distribution ceremony will be held at Maharashtra Mandal at 4 pm on Sunday, September 8th. The president of the Maharashtra Mandal Dhananjay Damle, Secretary of the Maharashtra State Mallakhamb Association Abhijit Bhosale and Physical Director of the Maharashtra Mandal Sachin Pardeshi have organised this. • A district level boxing competition has been organized at the Krantiveer Lahuji Vastad Salve Boxing Training Centre at General Arun Kumar Vaidya Stadium at 5 pm on Saturday, September 7th in which 60 boys and girls above the age of 15 have participated. Wani sir, General Secretary of Pune District Boxing Association is the coordinator for this while Pune City District Congress President and Presidents of Pune District Boxing Association Ramesh Bagve have coordinated it. • A wrestling tournament has been organized at Mamasaheb Mohal Wrestling Complex, Katraj at 10 am on Sunday, September 8th. Balasaheb Landge, General Secretary, Maharashtra State Kustigir Parishad has organised this for the Pune Festival. • A district-level Rollball tournament has been organized under the Pune Festival at Mahesh Vidyalaya, Kothrud at 10 am on Sunday, September 8th. President of the Maharashtra Rollball Association Raju Dabhade has organized this. In this, 12-13 teams of girls and 12-13 teams of boys below 15 years age will participate. The prize distribution ceremony of this competition will conclude at 4 pm. • The Pune Festival Dirt Track tournament has been organised at Golibar Maidan at 11 am on Sunday, September 8th in which there are 13 categories. There is 1 km long competitive track of different types of turns and more than 100 contestants have participated in this. Players from Sangli, Kolhapur, Mumbai and Bangalore have also participated along with participants from Pune. The prize distribution ceremony for the same will take place at 5 pm. The event is organized by ARMS and the Federation of Motor Sports Association of India has approved the event. Kamlesh Dave and Vikrant Raut have coordinated it. Dancer actress Hema Malini is the patron of Pune Festival and Suresh Kalmadi is the President. The sponsors of the Pune Festival are Jamnalal Bajaj Foundation, Kohinoor Group, Bharat Forge Ltd., Advick Pvt. Ltd., NECC, Panchshill Realty, Rohan Group, Kinetic Group, Lunkad Realty, Kumar Builders KUL, Sinhagad Technical Education Society, DY Patil College Pratishthan, Bank of Maharshtra, Ahura Builders, Pride Group of Companies, Suma Shilp Ltd., KARE, Kumar Properties Group, Desai Brothers Ltd., Pravin Masale, Vishweshwar Sahakari Bank Ltd., Mohar Group, Bansilal Ramnath Agarwal Charitable Trust, ABIL Group, Jairaj Developers, Beharay Rathi Group, Yes Bank, Hiranandani Communities, Halydyn Glass, Mantri Housing and Construction Ltd., Shri Mahila Griha Udyog Lijjat Papad, MIT College, Pashankar Auto Pvt. Ltd., Naiknavare Group, Magarpatta Township, Nyati Group, Sancheti Hospital, Kasturi Housing Pvt. Ltd., Sanjay Ghodawat Group, Mount Vert Homes and Pinacle Group.

www.punefestival.com Regards, Yours Truly Praveen P. Walimbe Media Co-ordinator Pune Festival 9822454234 7387002097

Shruti Tiwari 9049023767