Ashim bandhu Bhattacharjee’s Moonstruck captivates audiences at 30th Guru Kelucharan Mohapatra Award Festival

Bhubaneswar, September 10: After the spellbinding Jugalbandiof celebrated Hindustani flautist Shri Rakesh Chaurasia and brilliant Tabla player Ojas Adhiya, the 30^th Guru Kelucharan Mohapatra (GKCM) Award Festival 2024 at Rabindra Mandap organised by Srjan-Guru Kelucharan Mohapatra Odissi Nrityabasa along with the able institutional support of Sri Sri University (SSU), Cuttack, reached its penultimate evening. Srjan played host to renowned Kathak exponent Guru Ashimbandhu Bhattacharjee and his troupe, Upasana Centre for Dance, Kolkata, who presented Moonstruck, an evocative choreography in Kathak, here at Rabindra Mandap on Tuesday.

As always, Srjan punctually and punctiliously commenced the proceedings at 7 pm, with the auspicious lighting of the lamp, in the presence of esteemed guests and dignitaries Guru Smt. Aruna Mohanty, celebrated Odissi dance exponent and Guru and Secretary, Orissa Dance Academy; Pt. Nityananda Misra, eminent Sanskrit scholar; Shri Shivaram Raja gopalan, CEO, Shiva Consultants, Singapore ; ShriKulamaniBiswal, Ex Director, Finance, NTPCand Guru Ratikant Mohapatra, Director, Srjan, and Dean, Faculty of Arts, Communication and Indic Studies, SSU.

After the stellar Hindustani music recital of Pt. Rakesh Chaurasia and Shri Ojas Adhiya, the Award Festival shifted to the tunes of Kathak with the wonderful performance of Guru Ashim bandhu Bhattacharjee and Upasana Centre for Dance. Guru Ashim bandhu Bhattacharjee is an accomplished Kathak exponent from the Lucknow and Jaipur gharanas, with over four decades of experience. Along with dancers Ranjani Bhattacharjee, Madhuka Dutta, Trisha Chatterjee, Anwita Saha, Deboshmita Ghosh, Shubhradip Shaw, Ritapratim Chowdhury, Sandip Sarkar, Gobindo Mondal, and Avik Chaki, he presented the production Moonstruck – the story of a man and the moon, directed and choreographed by Guru Ashim bandhu Bhattacharjee, set to the music composition of ShriJayanta Banerjee and script of ShriAmitDasgupta, narrated in the sonorous tones of Shri Biplab Ganguly. Aided by the exquisite light designing of Shri Soumen Chakraborty, the narrative conveyed a contemplative yet expressive personal conversation between a lonely man and his lifelong friend, the moon. With the rhythmic interpolations characteristic of Kathak, the choreography was set to a haunting melody that portrayed both the ethereal beauty and dark side of the moon . Moonstruck aimed to highlight the man’s enduring attraction to the moon, while portraying the contrast of the cosmic and the corporal. Intertwining the traditional and the contemporary, Moonstruck made for memorable evening of Kathak.

The week-long Award Festival comes to a close on Wednesday, commencing with the prestigious award ceremony, followed by the much-awaited finale by the Srjan ensemble led by the artistic direction and vision of Ratikant Mohapatra. They will present Tantra, invoking the divine feminine and seeking the path to liberation by channelling Tantrasadhana for the betterment of society and humankind. Presented as an evocative blend of haunting imagery and distinctive elements of Odissi subsumed in the esoteric tradition of Tantra, Srjan’s presentation will feature unique embellishments in the music, choreography, and costumes that promises to provide a delightful visual and aesthetic experience to the audience.

The award ceremony will see stalwart artistes Guru Smt. Kumkum Lal, Guru Lakshmikanta Palit, Guru Dhaneswar Swain, and Shri Uttam Mohanty receive the Shalimar’s Guru Kelucharan Mohapatra Award 2024, while Dr.Pompi Paul, Smt. Rajnita Mehra, Shri Avijit Das, and Shri Rohita Pradhan receive the Shalimar’s Guru Kelucharan Mohapatra Yuva Prativa Samman 2024.

Srjan, with the institutional support of Sri Sri University, Cuttack aims to foster the crucial inter-connectedness of academia and performing arts in classical realm. The entire festival is meticulously curated and designed by Guru Ratikant Mohapatra, with seamless programme execution by Shri Debiprasad Mishra. The exquisite light arrangement by Shri Debiprasad Mishra and ShriDilip Kumar, with the thorough and professional sound engineering of Shri C Anand Krishna and Shri Bharath Krishna, provided exquisite audio-visual support to the artistes, delighting the audiences, while Shri Mrutyunjaya Rath ably conducted the proceedings for the evening.

The 30^th GKCM Award Festival has received patronage from MGM Minerals Ltd. and Shalimar Chemical Works Pvt. Ltd. Supported by the Ministry of Culture, Government of India, and the Department of Odia Literature Language and Culture, Government of Odisha, the gold sponsor of the festival is Odisha Mining Corporation Ltd., and its festival sponsors include Mahanadi Coalfields Ltd., Shalimar’s Coconut Oil, NALCO, SBI, IMFA, Priyadarshini Handloom, and Paradeep Phosphates Limited. The Royale Midtown Hotel is its hospitality partner. Dharitri and OrissaPOST, and Narthaki.com are the media partners and web partner respectively.

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