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| The Golconda cultural festival By Dr. A. Ramayya Mulukutla / Hyderabad |   | |||
| The Andhra Pradesh Tourism Development Corporation presented the Golconda cultural festival featuring well-known artistes from all over India, recently. The performances were conducted at the Taramati Baradari with the Golconda Fort overlooking the venue. It included folk music from Andhra Pradesh, fusion music featuring Trilok Gurtu of Germany and famous playback singer Roop Kumar Rathod, an instrumental ensemble with a Kabuli instrument, led by Ustad Ashish Khan, a couple of plays and dances.
One of the main features was the Bharatanatyam ballet depicting the birth of Goddess Lakshmi by noted actress Hemamalini and her troupe. With the open air theater packed to capacity people lined up in the street to have a glimpse of the cine artist of yesteryears! The following day, Hyderabad Brothers Seshachari and Raghavachari rendered several Kirtanas of Ramadas, who was jailed in the Golconda Fort during the rule of Nizams. Then dancer Deepika Reddy performed a Kuchipudi ballet, highlighting the patronage given by the erstwhile Golconda rulers for the performing arts.
For the finale of the 3-day program there was the autobiograpical mono-action play by Anupam Kher. The quality of the programming, and promotion of the festival assured that the auditorium had standing-room-only on all the three days, despite Taramati Baradari being some 15km outside the city and the prices for admission! | ||||
