Vibhishana, the younger brother of Ravana in the epic Ramayana, will be seen in the form of a kite from the banks of the English Channel in Dieppe in France next month.
This 30-feet long kite prepared by Team Mangalore, the well-known kite flying team from Mangalore that has participated in many international kite festivals, will be showcased during the nine-day International Kite Festival to be held in Dieppe from September 6 to 14. This kite will be among the 15 specially made kites that the team will be showcasing at the event. Artist and Team Mangalore member Dinesh Holla told presspersons here on Tuesday that through ‘Vibhishana’ they will depict the richness of traditional art of Yakshagana and Kathakali. “The crown, eyes, the facial features in the kite shows all of this. The tail will be in the form of a shawl. “It looks big now. But in the sky it will look small,” Mr. Holla said.
This is the not the first time Team Mangalore was visiting Dieppe. Last year the team had taken a kite that was in the form of ‘Garuda’. Mr. Holla said there the organisers were greatly impressed with the kite and invited them as guests of honour this year. Moreover, Mr. Holla was given responsibility of designing the invitation of the event.
Mr. Holla said the five members of the team had 28 days to come up with different kites. The team has also prepared Sangama, a nine-foot high and five-foot wide hexagon shaped six-sided kite; a kite train featuring 100 kathakali faced kites; Surya — a rokkaku kite; a lamp shaped kite. The team comprising of Sarvesh Rao, Satish Rao, Shashank Shetty and Pran Hegde will be also have exhibition of Mr. Holla’s line drawings. “There was good demand for these paintings last time. I am taking more collections this time that will reflect pebbles – a feature of the English Channel – in each painting.” Mr. Holla said 20 per cent of the collected amount will be going towards funding the campaign to save River Nethravati.