KOCHI: The multimedia laser show, the GCDA’s Rs 3.5-crore Onam gift for Kochites that was inaugurated on Thursday, turned out to be a grand show of lights.
As the show began, fantastic visuals set to the score of thumping techno-electro music and popular Malayalam songs morphed from abstract colour beams into sophisticated animations projected on a screen made in mid-air by the lasers.
As wonderful as the dance of the beams on the fog and the water fountains were the tales they told.
The animations told the fairytale of two kids exploring the cultural heritage and history of Kochi, guided by the Queen of the Arabian Sea, enacted by actor Rima Kallingal.
A narration about Kochi, brilliantly scripted by script writer John Paul and narrated in the immersing voice of actor Mammootty with soulful music in the background by music director Biji Bal, preceded the journey of the kids.
The maiden 50-minute show directed by Aashique Abu stunned the spectators, including Justice V R Krishna Iyer, ministers, MLAs and civic administrators, with simulations of numerous art forms.
With many of them watching such a show for first time in their life - it is claimed to be the first-of-its-kind in South India - it was hard to see anyone without excitement at Rajendra Maidan.
The stage, built on an area of 1600 square feet with a special pool set up for the projection, was itself a spectacle.
There was enormous protest against setting up the lazer project on the Maidan until a few months ago. But, with the no-frills attitude of GCDA chairman N Venugopal, the protests subsided very quickly or were called off towards the completion of the project.
The GCDA plans to run the show with tickets priced at Rs 100 and Rs 50 for the next few months.
Kochi’s evenings will never be the same again, with the laser beams ruling the show at least at the Rajendra Maidan.