Over 1,000 artistes from across the country will participate in the 38 Soorya Festival that will get underway on September 21. A host of cultural programmes have been lined up for the festival that will last nearly two months.
Thiruvananthapuram Mayor K. Chandrika will inaugurate the event at Co-bank Auditorium on Monday. Ottal , directed by Jayaraj, which was recently selected for this year’s State award for best film, will be the inaugural film. The lead actor of the film, Vasudevan, is expected to attend the function.
According to Soorya Stage and Film Society founder Soorya Krishnamoorthy, among the key attractions of the festival will be a Carnatic vocal programme led by renowned singer K.J. Yesudas (on October 1), who has been performing since the inaugural edition of the festival, and the Bharatanatyam performance by Shobhana (on October 20), a regular performer at the festival for the past 25 years.
The film festival, which will be conducted in association with the Directorate of Film Festivals, New Delhi, from September 21 to 30, will include feature films from across the country including Kuttram Kadithal (Tamil), Othello (Assamese), Chotoder Chobi (Bengali), Ek Hazarachi Note (Marathi), Teenkahon (Bengali), Gour Hari Dastaan (Hindi), Bodhon (Bengali), Un-freedom (English), Elizabeth Ekadashi (Marathi), Dr. Prakash Baba Amte (Marathi), Lokmanya-Ek Yugpurush (Marathi) and Court (Hindi). A national theatre festival for which entry has been restricted for delegates will be held from October 10 to 19.
Jalam,Nirnayakam , Evide, Nee-Na, Ennum Eppozhum, Oru Vadakkan Selfie, My Life Partner, and Ain are the Malayalam films to be screened.
The dance and music festival will be held at the AKG Auditorium on October 1 and 9, at the Co-bank Auditorium from October 2 to 8. The performers include Lakshmi Gopalaswamy, Baishali Sarcar, Rahul Acharya, Sonali Mahapatra, Ranbir, Rajendra Gangani, Chitra Visweswaran, P. Unnikrishnan, Priyadarshini Govind and Manju Warrier. Another series of dance performances, titled Parampara, will be held from November 1 to 10. Jalsa Ghar, a musical programme will be held at YMCA Auditorium from October 21 to 31. Hindustani vocalists Gayatri, Manjari, Fayaz Khan, ghazal singer Umbayi, and Shahabaz Aman will be among the performers. The curtains will come down on the festival on November 11 with a dance performance by Navya Nair.
