30th Pune festival gets ready to nurture and recognise talent

Hema Malini , veteran actor and member of Parliament will inaugurate the 30th Pune festival at Ganesh Kala Krida Rang Manch on September 14.

Pune festival which is a confluence of music, dance, drama, art, singing, instruments, sports and culture,will be held from September 13 to September 23. The festival nurtures local talents. “Girish Bapat , state food and civil supplies minister and guardian minister of Pune District and Jay Kumar Rawal, state tourism minister will be the chief guests. Besides them, Dilip Kamble, minister of state for social welfare; Vijay Shivtare, minister of state for water resources; Former co-operatives minister Harshvardhan Patil; Siddharth Dhende, deputy mayor of Pune and Suhas Diwase, managing director of Maharashtra tourism development corporation will be the guests of honour,” announced Suresh Kalmadi, founder of the Pune festival.

“It is easy to begin a festival but is difficult to keep it afloat for so many years,” said Kalmadi, who once upon time added a lot of glamour to the festival by inviting Hindi film stars, music directors and singers to perform at the festival.

“There is also a problem of not getting enough sponsors and everything has become expensive. It is simply not possible to bring famous or known actors for the festival,” said Krishnakant Kudale, one of the committee members.

The Pune Festival is organised jointly by Pune Festival Committee, citizens of Pune, Maharashtra Tourism Development Corporation and Government of India - Tourism Department. The installation of Pune Festival’s Ganesh will take place with full rituals at the hands of Air Marshal I P Vipin (VM) Commandant, NDA at Hotel Saras, Nehru stadium at 10.00 am on September 13th.

Metropolitan Commissioner and CEO of Pune Metropolitan Region Development Authority (PMRDA) Kiran Gitte and actor Prajakta Mali will be present on the occasion. Vedamurti Dhananjay Ghate Guruji will officiate the installation ceremony. Individuals from various fields with outstanding achievements are honoured with the ‘Pune festival award’ during the inaugural ceremony.

This year, Dr DY Patil, former Governor of Bihar; Shrinivas Patil, former governor of Sikkim, Hanmant Gaikwad, chairman and managing director, BVG Group and actor Vikram Gokhale will be felicitated with the honour.