Chandigarh, March 26:- The Chandigarh Heritage Festival will commence tomorrow with the inaugural recital by Padma Shri Shubha Mudgal at Open Hand Monument. Hon’ble Mr. Justice T.S. Thakur, Chief Justice Punjab & Haryana High Court will be the chief guest in the inaugural ceremony.
The six day long festival would comprise of comprehensive and integrated events on all major forms of the arts including performing arts, literary arts and visual arts. The Festival has been planned in such a manner that the display of various art forms will be spread all over the city, starting from its northern tip to its southern end. The venues for the Festival are Open Hand Monument, Government Museum and Art Gallery, Sector 10, Tagore Theatre, Sector 18, Beant Singh Memorial, Sector 42 and Rock Garden.
The Annual Festival focuses on creating better understanding of interrelationship between various art forms, for the citizen and tourists and project Chandigarh as a modern City with an intellectual and cultural edge. The venue of Open Hand has been especially chosen for the inaugural function, as it is the official emblem of the Chandigarh Administration and the City. Also the scenic backdrop of the Kasauli hills and the monumental buildings of Le Corbusier will make it even more dramatic.
There would be both morning & evening activities on the subsequent days including Musical play on Kabir by the famous artist Shekhar Sen, a classical dance by famous exponent of Bharat Natyam Malavika Sarakkoi, a comedy play titled ‘Hamlet – The Clown Prince’ by the famous actor-director Rajat Kapoor followed by the colorful National Folk Dances at Beant Singh Memorial, Sector 42.
The festival will be closed with the lilting melodies of Padma Bhushan Pandit Hariprasad Chaurasia with a flute recital at the Rock Garden. The Governor of Punjab and Administrator UT, Chandigarh, General (Retd.) S. F. Rodrigues would be the chief guest at the concluding ceremony.
To make the Festival more interactive and participative, workshop and interactions are also being organized. There would be rendezvous as ’Face to Face with Writers” with Githa Hariharan and Manjula Padmanabhan at Government Museum & Art Gallery, Sector 10, painting workshop with eminent artist Paramjit Singh and theatre workshop with Mrs. Neelam Mansingh.