Among the many images that the month of December invokes, the one close to the hearts of Tamil lovers is that of poet Bharati. His death anniversary is observed in style by Vaanavil Panpaattu Maiyam and this year, its 21st edition, has a rich feast for the admirers of the ‘Mundasu Kavi.’
The festival starts with Jathi Pallakku on Thursday (December 11), 9 a.m. from the Sri Parthasarathy temple, Triplicane.
Crazy Mohan’s poems on the title ‘Varuvai Kanna’ get a visual representation with Keshav’s illustrations. Bharath Krishnamachari is launching a CD of Bharati’s ‘Kadhal, Kadhal, Kadhal’ for which the music has been composed by Girish Gopalakrishnan. Anil Srinivasan, G.J.R. Krishnan and Abishek Raghuram have joined hands to present the songs, with symphony orchestra.
In Konjam Tea-Konjam Bharathi, Ila. Ganesan of BJP is engaged in a discussion with film director K. Bhagyaraj and orator Parveen Sultana. Solomon Pappaiah will deliver a special lecture in the evening.
Day 2 begins with ‘Nalladhor Veenai,’ a programme in which young Bharadwaj Raman plays the veena in the company of J.B. Keerthana on the vocal and Isaikavi Ramanan. The highlight of the evening’s programme is Veda Bharathi, a dance presentation by Narada Gana Sabha’s Natyarangam. Medha Hari, Manasvini, Apoorva Jayaraman and Sai Santhosh are the artists. The music has been composed by Lalgudi G.J.R. Krishnan and Lalgudi Vijayalakshmi.
This year’s Bharati Award goes to multi-lingual scholar of Thanjavur, Dr. T.N. Ramachandran, for his outstanding contribution in the form of translation of Bharati’s poems into English. The Union Minister Nirmala Sitharaman will present the award. A two-hour documentary on TNR by Ravi Subramanian is on the cards.
The curtain comes down on December 14, when Bharatha Matha Pancharatnam will be rendered by Prof. Abiramasundari and her troupe. Vasanthi Gopal and her group will present Tiruppalli Ezuchi. The Madras University Music Department students will present Navaratna Malai. Devotional singer Veeramani Raju will render a few songs of the poet in his inimitable style.
The Madras Youth Choir’s performance in the morning, O.S. Arun’s vocal music for an hour in the evening and Narthaki Natraj’s interpretation of Bharati through her Bharatanatyam with Akshay Padmanabhan on the vocals complete the fare.
