Indo-foreign night main attraction

LUCKNOW : ‘Indo-foreign night’ will be the main attraction at the Lucknow Mahotsav-2018 in which many international artistes from Ukraine, Russia, Germany and other countries would perform. After two years, the fest will again begin on its traditional opening date, that is November 25.

There will be other attractions too at the fest that would be based on the theme ‘Atal Sanskriti-Atal Virasat’, to pay tribute to former PM AB Vajpayee.

On Monday, the district magistrate launched a poster of the fest that would be inaugurated by chief minister Yogi Adityanath. Besides, the DM also released the list of the programs, to be organised during the 10-day-long program.

“The fest would highlight the contributions of the former Prime Minister AB Vajpayee towards the country and would also hold an exhibition in which all artifacts and pictures related to him would be put on display,” said Kaushal Raj Sharma, district magistrate.

The first programme that the fest would witness would be a classical night, Sharma said. In the programme, senior artistes like Nitish Bharadwaj and others would perform.

It would be followed by the Indo-foreign night on November 26 in which international artistes would perform and share the stage with the Indian artistes, he added. “We have lined up artists from Ukraine, Russia, Germany and other countries,” said Sharma.

On November 27, there will be a Bhajan Sandhya for which the Mahotsav team has lined up Maithili Thakur and others. On November 28, there will be Kavi Sammelan that would witness poets like Hariom Pawar, Anamika Amber, Dr Suresh Awasthi, Kavita Tiwari, Gajendra Solanki and others.

November 29 would witness a Sufi night programme that would be led by renowned singer Javed Ali. There will also be a mushaira on November 30 in which Urdu poets like Waseem Barelvi, Manzar Bhopali, Shabina Adeeb, Jauhar Kanpuri, Anna Dehlavi and others are expected to take part.

Besides, there will be other programmes like Bhojpuri night, Awadhi night, Bollywood night, Punjabi night and classical night. The administration has decided to increase the entry charge from ₹10 to ₹20. It was also decided that the seasonal ticket would cost ₹100. Unlike last year, when the fest that was clubbed with UP Diwas and organised at Awadh Shilpgram, this year, it would be held at Kashiram Smriti Upvan.