The Kothrud Sanskrutik Mahotsav organized by Sanskruti Pratishthan will be held from Saturday, February 1 to Tuesday, February 4, 2020 at the Ideal Colony Ground, Kothrud from 6 pm onwards. This was informed at the press conference held today by Murlidhar Mohol, Pune Mayor and Founder of Sanskruti Pratishthan. The event will be free and open to all.
Speaking at the conference, Murlidhar Mohol said, “This is the 10th year of the Kothrud Sanskrutik Mahotsav. This year, the International Astronomical Union along with NASA’s Space Research Institute named a newly discovered planet after Pt. Jasraj. A recipient of Padma Vibhushan, Pt. Jasraj is the first Indian to receive such privilege. As he also turned 90 on January 28 this year, we are dedicating this year’s festival to the maestro. “
The first two days of the festival will be marked by ‘Rasraj Samman Ceremony’ which is the concept of Yogesh Deshpande. This program is produced by Hemant Gujrathi and Pune Talkies.
On the first day of the festival on Saturday, February 1, Chandrakant Patil, Maharashtra BJP president and MLA from Kothrud Assembly constituency, Dr. Raghunath Mashelkar, Senior Scientist, Dr. Jabbar Patel, Film Director and Pt. Hridaynath Mangeshkar, Renowned Vocalist will honour Pt. Jasraj with a memento during the ‘Rasraj Samman Ceremony’.
Later, the students of Pt. Jasraj School of Music Foundation will present a musical performance and will be followed by Pt. Jasraj’s grandson and vocalist, Swar Sharma who will entertain the audience with his songs. After that, renowned sarod player, Amjad Ali Khan will perform at the event and will be followed by the performances of Ustad Taufiq Qureshi and his son Shikhar Qureshi. The first day will conclude with ‘Live Ghazals’ of renowned singer, Hariharan.
On Sunday, February 2, Rakesh Chaurasia will start the event with his performance on flute and following that Pt. Jasraj’s disciple, Pt. Sanjeev Abhyankar and senior vocalist, Ashwini Bhide Deshpande will present the jugalbandi program called ‘Jasarangi’. The second day will conclude with an interactive session with Pt. Jasraj, Pt. Hariprasad Chaurasia, Dr. Prabha Atre and Pt. Hridaynath Mangeshkar organized by Yogesh Deshpande.
On the third day of the festival, there will be a presentation of a play called ‘Yugnayak Vivekananda’ organized by Ramakrishna Math, Pune. The play has been organized to mark the completion of 125 years of Swami Vivekananda’s famous speech at the Parliament of the World’s Religions held in Chicago. The play has been written by Swami Shrikantanand and directed by Kedar Pandit.
The 10th Kothrud Sanskrutik Mahotsav will conclude on Tuesday, February 4 with a Live episode of the famous Marathi television program, ‘Chala Hawa Yeu Dya’. Following the tradition of honouring the artistes every year at the festival, the foundation will present its ‘Sanskruti Kala Jeevangaurav’ award to senior vocalist, Pt. Suhas Vyas and the ‘Sanskruti Kala award’ to renowned tabla player, Pt. Vijay Ghate. Badhekar Group will be the main sponsors of the program.
