BHUBANESWAR: Veteran artistes Sharon Lowen, Keshab Chandra Rout, Dhirendranath Mallick and Mahasweta Ray will be conferred the Guru Kelucharan Mohapatra Award 2026 for their lifetime contributions to Odissi dance, music, theatre and cinema, respectively.
The awards, carrying Rs 1 lakh and a citation each, will be presented during the 32nd Guru Kelucharan Mohapatra Award Festival to be held from September 5 to 9 at Rabindra Mandap here in Bhubaneswar. This year’s festival coincides with the birth centenary celebrations of Odissi guru Kelucharan Mohapatra.
The annual cultural event will be organised by Srjan in collaboration with Sri Sri University. It has been curated by Guru Ratikant Mohapatra, director of Srjan and dean of Faculty of Arts, Communication and Indic Studies of Sri Sri University.
On the occasion, the second edition of the Guru Kelucharan Mohapatra Kala Samman, instituted for accomplished artistes aged 40 to 55, will honour Agnimitra Behera (violin) and Nazia Alam (vocal music). They will receive Rs 50,000 and a citation. The Guru Kelucharan Mohapatra Yuva Pratibha Samman, carrying Rs 25,000 and a citation, will be presented to Vrinda Chadha and Aishwariya Singhdev (Odissi dance), Nikita Banawalikar (Kathak) and Soumya Ranjan Nayak (Odissi music - mardala), Mohapatra told mediapersons on Friday.
The festival will open on September 5 with a Hindustani vocal recital by Shubha Mudgal, accompanied by Aneesh Pradhan on tabla and Sudhir Nayak on harmonium. On September 6, sarod maestro Tejendra Narayan Majumdar, accompanied by Satyajit Talwalkar, will present a recital, followed by an Odissi performance by Lipsa Satapathy. The second day will feature Saugandhika Haranam, a choreographed play by Chidakash Kalalay Centre, while September 8 will see Bharatanatyam exponent Janaki Rangarajan followed by a flute jugalbandi by Abhiram Nanda and Srinibas Satapathy.
The festival will conclude on September 9 with the award ceremony and Mati, a production by the Srjan Ensemble inspired by an evocative poem by Odia poet Radha Mohan Gadanayak. Choreographed by Ratikant Mohapatra, it’s music has been composed by Lakshmikant Palit and script adaptation by the late Jaydev Das.