BENGALURU: A national cultural festival to honour literateur, patriot and founder of Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan Dr Kanhaiyalal Maniklal Munshi will be held today from 10am to 8pm at Khincha Auditorium, Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan on Race Course Road.
The event, Bharatiyaalaya, is being organised by Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan, Dr KM Mumshi Institute of Art and Culture, Aatmalaya Academy of Art and Culture and Indira Gandhi National Centre for the Arts. Justice Vineet Kothari, with the Karnataka High Court, will be the chief guest at the event and Radha Sridhar, who is the Karnataka Kalathilaka Shantala awardee, will be the guest of honour.
The morning session will begin with an inauguration by P Venugopal, Regional Director of ICCR, Bengaluru. This will be followed by cultural programmes by students and invited artistes, and contests for children in public speaking on the life and writings of Munshi.
One of the novels by Munshi will be presented as a dance by Bhavya V, Vaishali S, Anitha, Jyoti and Aditi. At 1 pm, there will be a Kuchipudi and Bharatanatyam recital by G Santoshi Harini and G Radha Sivani. At 5 pm, students from the Radha Kalpa Dance School will stage a Bharatanatyam performance.
Following these, awards will be presented to Bharatanatyam exponents Karnataka Kalashri Krishnaveni and Kalamandalam. PN Rugmini, and to Yakshagana Kalavidaru Dayananda Nagoor.
Thematic presentations based on Munshi’s novels will be presented by many artistes including Jaya Somnath, Dr Padmaja Suresh and Dr Rekha Raju.