THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Over 1,000 artists, including eminent singers and dancers from different parts of the world, will take part in the 45th edition of the Soorya Festival, a 111-day art and cultural fiesta beginning in Thiruvananthapuram on Saturday.
The programmes will be conducted offline for the first time after a pandemic-infused break of two years. The event will be held at Soorya Ganesham theatre and AKG Hall. The annual event would feature a variety of programmes, including dance and music performances, theatre fests, film festivals, Hindustani concerts, traditional art shows, Mohiniyattam and Ramayana festivals, and painting and photo exhibitions.
The valedictory celebrations will be held on January 21 , 2023, with a Kuchipudi performance by actor Manju Warrier.
Yesudas’s Carnatic music concert
For the last forty-five years, the fest started off with a concert of playback singer K J Yesudas. Due to the pandemic, he held the concert online for the past two years. However, this year, as per his request, the concert has been scheduled for December 7 when he will perform offline, the organisers said.
Dance and music festival from Oct 1 to 10
Shobhana, Manju Warrier, Asha Sarath, Priyadarshini Govind, Meenakshi Srinivasan, Rama Vaidyanathan, Janaki Ranga Rajan, Navya Nair, Padmapriya, Sunanda Nair, Trivandrum Krishnakumar, Binny Krishnakumar, Sharmila Mukherjee’s Odissi team and Madhumita Roy’s Kathak team will be participating in the dance festival.
Other highlights include Carnatic classical concerts by Sudha Raghunathan, Abhishek Reghuram, P Unnikrishnan, Sooryagayathri and Harisankar.
Pancharatna woman speech fair
Aswathi Thirunal Gowri Lakshmi Bayi, K K Shailaja, Bhagyalakshmi, Shweta Menon and Anju Bobby George will participate in the speech fair.
Pancharatna woman film festival
‘Viral Sebi’ directed by Vidhu Vincent, ‘Woman with a Movie Camera’ directed by Athul Krishnan, ‘Freedom at Midnight’ directed by Shaan, ‘Wank’ directed by Kavya Prakash and a short film by Kunhila Masilamani from the anthology ‘Freedom Fight’ will be featured in the festival.