Report by OD bureau; Bhubaneswar: The concluding evening of 18th Guru Kelu Charan Mohapatra Award Festival started with the customary award giving ceremony by the Chief Minister, Odisha. The Award instituted in the year 1995 with a view to generating a feeling of cultural amity amongst the performing arts fraternity and acknowledging the excellence and contribution of great artists in the field of dance, music, theatre and cinema.

 Guru Ratikanta Mohapatra the leading torch-bearer of his father and Guru Kelu Charan Mohapatra’s legacy is committed to reach out in the nook and corner of the Globe with all its pristine glory and purity. Srjan (Guru Kelu Charan Mohapatra Odissi Nrutyabasa) founded in 1993 by Guru Kelu Charan Mohapatra has pioneered the cause of recognizing the talents and achievements of individual artists and different art forms as well.

This year the Award conferred on veteran and octagenerian Gotipua Guru Birabara Sahoo and Shri Rama Chandra Pratihari noted artist in the field of theater and film for their inestimable contribution to promote and enrich Gotipua Dance and Odia Theatre and Film respectively. Sincerity, self confidence and perseverance have sometimes conquered poverty and all hurdles for which Guru Kelu Charan Mohapatra has set an example to be emulated by others.

The cultural programme commenced with an invocatory piece to Lord Shiva Bho Sambho composed by Swami Daya Nanda Saraswati. This fast-paced intensity of the choreography described the different atributes of Lord Shiva. This was followed by Ananda Lahari Devi Bandana,  an offering to Mother Goddess based on the composition of Adiguru Shankaracharya set to music by Debasish Sarkar. The concluding item was Bishwas a contemporary choreography incorporating elements of Odissi idiom based on search for truth and immense power of faith. Religious beliefs and practices are varied with resplendent array of human imagination. Concritization and Iconification have been used to intellectulize the untranslatable experience and evoke underlying enduring spiritual stratum. The choreography of this impeccable presentation was by Guru Ratikanta Mohapatra, Music by Shri Lakshmikanta Palit.

The dignitaries who graced the occasion were Naveen Pattnaik, Hon’ble Chief Minister, Odisha, Shri Maheswara Mohanty, Hon’ble Minister, Tourism, Culture, Planning & Co-ordination; Shri Birabara Sahoo, Eminent Gotipua Guru; Shri Ramachandra Pratihari, noted Theatre and Film artist and Guru Ratikanta Mohapatra, Director, Srjan. The programme was compered by Smt. Sadhna Shrivastav.