This is the link to the write up in Time Out magazine (Mumbai, Oct 2 -16 edition) about the event that I'm compereing.
http://www.timeoutmumbai.net/aroundtown/
check it out
| Utsav |
Tour operator Suresh Singh Tanwar has shown several people around the city, but he’s always felt that something was missing in Mumbai’s tourist scene. “There wasn’t much to do after 7pm other than to take the travellers to Indigo or Trishna for dinner,” he complained. “I felt that it was time for a change.” Inspired by the cultural shows he’d seen at Rose Garden in Bangkok, at which performers give tourists a colourful and entertaining presentation of their nation’s cultural menu, Tanwar’s company Supersonic Travels decided to start an extravaganza of its own. He has financed and produced Utsav, an hour-long spectacle designed as a quick introduction to Maharashtra. Roughly 20 actors and dancers, and an equal number of crew members backstage speedily run through eight Maharashtrian festivals, the state’s popular folk dances and a traditional wedding. Each show of Utsav begins with a “Ganesh Vandana”, a piece in which the production’s choreographer Kavita Koli and bharatanatyam dancers worship Lord Ganesha. After that, Utsav follows the Maharashtrian calendar, starting with the Maharashtrian New Year, Gudi Padwa, and winding up with Holi, the last festival of the year. A narrator introduces each festival in English, offering stories about its origins. Tanwar says that the aim is to help foreigners and expatriates, his target audience, understand these celebrations. Only a few minutes are devoted to each item, allowing several Maharashtrian folk dances to be squeezed into the show. The devotional jogwa and gondhal dances are performed during the Navratri segment and the Koli dance helps showcase Nariyal Purnima and Holi. Accompanying Ganesh Chaturthi, the longest section, is music from the lezim, a stick that holds tambourine-like cymbals, and phugadi, in which two women clasp each other’s hands and spin at dizzying speeds. But Utsav doesn’t limit itself to folk dances. The emphasis is on the customs and traditions associated with each festival. Ganesh Chaturthi begins with the arrival of a Ganesh idol and ends with a depiction of the idol’s immersion. Utsav’s highlight is the wedding ceremony. Two minutes is all it takes for audiences to go from watching a couple’s horoscopes getting matched to the wedding procession and the bride’s farewell. “Many tour guides have said they have never seen such a thing in any part of India,” said Tanwar. He has booked the Mini Auditorium at the Ravindra Natya Mandir until January to cash in on the tourist season. Suhani Singh |
Source : Time Out Mumbai |
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