Tuesday was a special day as Ravindra Bharathi's Golden Jubilee celebrations were held at the auditorium. The Department of Culture and state cultural council organised shows of Kuchipudi and a Bengali ballet by the local Bengali Samities. Playback singer Kavitha Krishnamurthy rendered a couple of Tagore songs including one in Telugu, a translation of the original.
The celebrations were inaugurated by Chief Minister K. Rosaiah by lighting the lamp and garlanding the portrait of Rabindranath Tagore. He said that staging a programme at Ravindra Bharathi was the delight of all as it is the pristine cultural centre.
He also lauded the services of the staff and officials for maintaining the auditorium all these years.
He felicitated many of the directors of Ravindra Bharathi past and present and its staff, journalists covering these events and seniorartistes like Uma Rama Rao, V. Radhika Reddy, Suguna and others who performed in a ballet Chitrangada at Ravindra Bharathi when it was inaugurated 50 years ago.
He also felicitated other artistes. Minister for Culture and Tourism Geetha Reddy, Principal Secretary S. Chellappa and Cutural Council's chief Ramanamurthy were also present.
The Kuchipudi show was by Sobha Naidu and her team who presented their popular Chandalika , depicting the agony of a low caste woman. Sobha played the role of Chandalika with her disciples in other roles.
Tagore's story
Bhujangaraya Sarma wrote this based on one of Tagore's stories. The music support and songs were pre-recorded with the voices of Kanna Rao and others with Sarma on mridangam. The dances were presented by groups of her disciples.
The Bengali Cultural Association presented a Bengali ballet of Tagore. The music was set in Rabindra Sangeet. The theme was titled as Bhool Sworgo .
The story narrated contrast between lives in heaven and earth, through the eyes of a poor potter.
One day, the angels take a lazy potter to heaven, where he finds the apsrasas (angels) busy all the time. The potter had no work to do there. An apsara is busy filling water. She never caresfor him as he is lazy. Then the potter paints her pot with flowers and leaves. She falls in love with him. The king of heaven orders him to leave and the apsara also wants to go with him. The king ultimately yields to their true love.
Nand Kishore Chawla played the potter and Sapna Dutta, also the choreographer, was the apsara . Gowthami Chatterji played potter's mother.
There were plenty of junior and senior dancers in the troupe. Stage and lighting effects were brilliant.
