Amid a number of programmes for the Visakha Utsav on the second day on Saturday, Collector Pravin Kumar sprang a surprise by whistling four songs in a jugalbandi with flautist Navin Kumar.
Mr. Navin Kumar came onto the stage and the Collector joined him whistling even as announcement was made about the surprise happening.
“What made me to go in for jugalbandi is finding a partner in Naveen Kumar who is famous for the Roja song,” Mr. Pravin Kumar said.
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“I decided to perform in the utsav that had given so much of support to me in my endeavour to do the best for it,” Mr. Pravin Kumar told
Whistling and singing has been a hobby for Mr. Pravin Kumar since his school days. His last whistling performance was in 1994. In the college he used to sing, he said.
At the jugalbandi at the main venue, he whistled four songs- Kishore Kumar’s evergreen “Yeh sham mastani,” “Dil hai chota sa (Roja), “Jadu teri nazar (Dar) and “Ek ho gaye..” (Bombay).
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After the performance at the main venue, Forest Minister Bojjala Gopalakrishna Reddy, HRD Minister Ganta Srinivasa Rao, MP Muttamsetti Srinivasa Rao and MLAs Bandaru Satyanarayana Murthy and Peela Govinda Satyanarayana and DRM Chandralekha Mukherjee felicitated him.
The Ministers released the Telugu trailer of war film “Ghazi,” based on true incidents in Visakhapatnam. Actor Rana who played the main role pepped up the spirits in a lively interaction with people taking questions on his much-awaited sequel to “Baahubali” and his marriage. The actor delivered a dialogue from “Ghazi.”
Students of various colleges participated in the kite festival, which was inaugurated by Mr. Srinivasa Rao and Mr. Krishna Reddy.
Later, the Ministers visited the flower show being conducted at the MGM Park. Interacting with visitors, they said plans were on the cards to extend the flower show by another two days in view of the tremendous response.
A fusion of Kuchipudi dance and Kerala martial art form Kalaripayattu was also presented at the venue. Magician B.S. Reddy performed a few items.
At the second venue at Jatara, also on the Beach Road, Veerabhadra Natayam and Kommu dance from East Godavari district, dances to folk songs were performed to a packed audience. A motor glider made sorties over the venue. The venues were packed with a week-end crowd thronging the Beach Road.