Delhi Celebrates: Two months of art and culture to go with Games After a bumpy ride, Delhi is finally ready for the grand Commonwealth Games party. Delhi Celebrates, a two-month calendar of cultural events, was unveiled by Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit on Monday. “It is going to be an
iconic festival of art and culture. We will present a huge number of programmes
to cater to everybody’s taste. Top performers from across the country will
participate,” said Dikshit, releasing the 100-page culture calendar, which
can also be downloaded from delhitourism.gov.in.
The festival will kick start at Dilli Haat on Tuesday where all the states will present their cultural events. The festival will conclude on November 4. The cultural festival is set to be a mix of diverse art, music, dance, cinema, theatre and cuisine to be spread over the next two months as part of celebrations for the Commonwealth Games. The "Delhi Celebrates" festival, which will see action from the country's finest performers, will showcase to the world India's unique cultural heritage and traditions. Theatre lovers can feast on celebrated plays such as 'Kaifi aur Main' featuring Javed Akhtar and Shabana Azmi, 'Ghalib' featuring Tom Alter in the lead role and 'Eidgah', based on a story by renowned Urdu writer Munshi Premchand as a part of 'Jashn-e-Dilli' programme at the Jamia Milia Islamia from September 18 to October 4. This is not all, lovers of mushairas, ghazals and qawwalis can also savour performances by some of the best artistes at the Town Hall in Chandni Chowk. Ghazal maestros Jagjit Singh and Radhika Chopra, Qawwali expert Ateeq Hussain Khan Bandanawazi and Wajahat Jaffar Sultani Badayuni Qawwal and some renowned Urdu poets, including Javed Aktar, Nida Fazli, Gulzar and Bekal Utsahi, will participate in a grand 'mushaira' and other events lined up at the Games venues. Qutub Minar will come alive to the music during the Qutub Festival from October 4-13 when renowned singers and performers will come together to enthral the audience. The performers include Kailash Kher, Shankar Mahadevan, Kunal Ganjawala, Abhijeet, Indian Ocean, Euphoria, Sivamani, Louis Banks, Mohit Chauhan, Sadhna Sargam, Javed Ali, Hariharan among others. A "Delhi classical music festival" will kick start on October 4 at Kamani auditorium. The cultural programmes will feature classical dances, contemporary fusion dance, folk music, different genres of theatre and art exhibitions. The events will be held at different venues across the city including Qutub Minar, Chandni Chowk, Dilli Haat and Purana Qila. Union ministry of culture will also organize a series of programmes at museums and cultural centres like National School of Drama, Lalit Kala Akademi and Sangeet Natak Akademi. "It is going to be an iconic festival in the history of art and culture. We will present a huge number of programmes," chief minister Sheila Dikshit said while launching the calender for the festival. Addressing the gathering, Jawhar Sircar, secretary, Union culture ministry, said "Delhi Celebrates" will be "the largest single exposition of culture in history of India". As many as 15 departments and agencies of Delhi government, ministry of culture, Archaeological Survey of India, National School of Drama and Indira Gandhi National Centre for Arts are organizing the festival. The celebrations, which
started on September 3, will go on till November 4. Plays like Ghalib,
Kaifi Aur Main, and Eidgah will be part of the Jash-ne-Dilli theatre festival
at Ansari Auditorium in Jamia Millia Islamia. Ghalib has Tom Alter playing
the charming 19th century poet in the court of Bahadurshah Zafar while
Kaifi aur Main will have Javed Akhtar and Shabana Azmi on stage.
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Commonwealth Games 2010 Delhi India. Schedule, Fixtures, Events, Information, Dates